Entry 25.39

Well, this is not the circumstances I wanted to be writing in this week. Granted the result I predicted is more than likely going to happen, but still. Europe leading by 7 points at the beginning of the Singles Matches? Come on. I don’t think anyone thought that was going to be the case. My prediction was Europe would win 16 ½ to the USA with 11 ½ but that they wouldn’t take the lead until Sunday Singles. Now that score is still possible but it’s looking like the beating the USA team dealt out at Whistling Straits is about to be reversed at Bethpage Black. Maybe worse. Based on how these first four matches are going, it is going to be worse (currently 1U, 2U, 2U, 1U, all in blue for Europe). There is going to be a ton of fallout for Team USA coming out of this. Especially following Rome. I mean this is going to be the first time an away team has won the Ryder Cup since 2012 at Medinah. Granted it is known as “The Miracle at Medinah”, but that also was a European victory. You have to go all the way back to 1993 to find the last time the USA won in Europe. The European team, however, has won the cup on US soil quite a few times since then. What makes us so bad at this format? Or the question on the other side of the coin, what makes the European team so good? I know that question is going to be asked a lot in the coming days, weeks and months as the players, captain and vice-captains, media and all of us reflect on this weekend. But I think that we have to remember a couple things. First, we need to remember the words of Ted Lasso (and maybe Walt Whitman, but again, doesn’t seem like Walt Whitman actually said those words from my research). “Be curious, not judgmental.” I just find those words so powerful and so freeing that I felt them necessary. We can easily target the players, vice-captains and captain with our judgment of their performance. But judging them will not help us in preparing for the 2027 edition of the Ryder Cup at Adare Manor. I can’t even imagine the mental and emotional anguish that is coming for Team USA, especially Captain Keegan Bradley. A lot of people were already questioning his ability as Captain and by piling on judgment now, who knows the toll that could take on him. I can already hear Brandel Chamblee ripping him a new one over the next two years. After hearing Ted Lasso’s voice echoing in our heads as he took on Rupert in a game of darts, we need to remember the words of a Medal of Honor recipient, the first American to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and the 26th President of the United States of America: Theodore Roosevelt.

On 23 April 1910 at the Sorbonne in Paris, Roosevelt gave his Citizen in a Republic Speech. I’m not going to reference the entire speech, just the most famous portion of it. A friend of mine recently sent me a video on Instagram of it being read. It’s not the first time that I’ve heard or read it. I’m quite familiar with it. So much so that after my last deployment I almost got a tattoo of the words The Man in the Arena. It was a needed reminder after that deployment. I can’t remember why or how I came across the speech again because even then it wasn’t the first time that I had read it. I had done things that few people would ever be faced with and even fewer would ever dream of having to do on that deployment. Things I hope no one ever has to face. I did it gladly. It is what I signed up for knowing what could happen. But until it happens, you don’t know how it is going to affect you. It took me some time to realize that I was not just one of the players in this scene, but two of them. I was the doer and the critic. I was crippling myself by being the critic. It’s hard to explain. But enough of my words, here are President Theodore Roosevelt’s:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles,

or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions;

who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

I should probably just stop writing and tell you to read those words again. And again. And again. Until you really understand what is being said. Until you see how it applies to your life. Until you see how it applies to the lives of those around you. It really doesn’t matter who you are. It really doesn’t matter what you have done or not done. These words apply to you. In one way or another. Or in multiple ways as they apply to me. I don’t think many people who know me will deny that I could count myself as The Man in the Arena. It’s so easy to apply this to some people. We read the words “whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood” and immediately a picture jumps into your mind. I know it happens to me. I see the faces of those I served with in the Army. I see the faces of those who are still serving. I see the faces of veterans who have graduated or are currently in our PGA HOPE program. I see the faces of those who I served with during my time in the Vermont State Police. So many faces. But I think we forget to look beyond the initial flashes those words bring to mind. And that’s not surprising. It’s easy to see those faces. It takes work to see more. Because these words can apply to more that just those in the military and law enforcement.

The speech in its entirety outlined Roosevelt’s thoughts on the relationship between the state and its citizens and vice versa. The Man in the Area portion is a call to action away from criticism, laziness and inaction. Action is one word to use. Another way we could phrase it is “take risks”. It’s so easy to settle into routine. To mind your own business. To be content with the status quo. Now I’m not saying to take ridiculous risks. There’s a line between taking a smart risk and downright being an idiot. Walking across the section of I-10 in Houston known as the Katy Freeway with traffic going full speed would be the latter. I know a little bit about playing Frogger on the interstate. I did it on our way to the airport to fly to Ireland in 2024. The back door of one of the buses opened and a few pieces of luggage slipped out. Thankfully no people fell out nor any golf bags. I hopped across three lanes dodging cars and semi-trucks to grab the last piece of luggage. But there are twenty-six lanes in areas of the Katy Freeway. That’s a whole different level of risk and would definitely be on the idiot end of the spectrum if all you are trying to do is retrieve a piece of luggage. But what about the other end of the spectrum? What kind of risks are on that end?

Smart risks are still risks. There is still a chance of failure. Possibly even a high chance of failure. But the rewards are worth it should you succeed. Smart risks require planning. You have to continue to learn and adapt throughout the process. Embracing failure is a must. Small failures are going to happen. Going into whatever you’re risking, you should know that. So rather than let them rattle you, view them as opportunities. But it’s when we see the smallest problem as catastrophic that we run into issues. That’s when people decide to go with the flow and stop taking risks. It’s all perception. It’s a decision. That’s where your planning comes in. You plan for bumps, both big and small, so when they happen, they aren’t complete surprises. You may not know what the bump is going to be, you just plan on them occurring. Then when they do pop up, you investigate, research, learn and then pivot. All this starts with the planning phase. For some people, the plan is where is all falls apart. They decide to take a risk and then don’t plan. Or just the task of planning deflates them, and they give up. Those who do make a plan tend to make one fatal flaw. They plan for everything to go according to the plan. I see this happen all the time. No “what ifs?” are included in the plan. Then at the first sign of trouble, they fall apart. They see the whole proposition as a lost cause. A small bump becomes an end of the world event. All of those options can make people risk adverse. Risk adverse people tend to not want to make waves. They tend to stick to routine and not broaden their horizons. They watch from the sideline as others live out their lives. They find it easy to criticize others for decisions. We all know the person who sits in the shadows and complains non-stop but won’t step out into the light and actually do something about. People have a favorite word for the complainers. Lazy. Wrong? Maybe, maybe not. But I don’t think we are coming to poor conclusions equating laziness to risk adverse. But we need to keep “Be curious, not judgmental” in mind. Maybe they just don’t know how to take smart risks.

At some point in our lives, we are all The Man in the Arena. It doesn’t have to be a massive undertaking like what Keegan Bradley took on when he agreed to be the Captain of the US Ryder Cup team. He’s done a pretty good job of being transparent about how much work it is. But is the risk worth what it could mean to him personally? What it could do to his public image? What it could mean for his future? At the end of the day, there is only one person who can answer that question. Keegan Bradley. The rest of us are just on lookers. Only he is The Man in the Arena with all the weight of the captaincy on his shoulders. At the end of the day, he took something on that many people would immediately decline out of fear. But what about risks that are a little more common? Risks that all of us could take. Too easy. How about walking out your front door every day? Or driving? Taking a new job? Making a new friend? I can keep going. But let’s talk about that last one. Making a new friend. How risky is that? Letting someone else be a part of your life is insanely risky. It demonstrates vulnerability. You open yourself up to friends. They get to see part of you other people don’t get to see. Sure, they get to see the highlights. They also get to see the failures. No one wants others to see our failures. No one wants to be known as a failure. Which many times is why we avoid taking risks. I know I don’t want to be known as a failure.

There is an enormous difference between failing and being a failure. We all fail. It’s inevitable. Trying to live your life without failing means never doing anything. It’s impossible. You have to take risks. Embrace the idea. You might as well step out of the crowd watching from the sidelines cheering and booing, scramble down the steps, hop over the wall and become The Man in the Arena. The cheering and booing is nothing short of criticism. It comes from those who don’t really have a dog in the fight. They aren’t taking any risk. When your football team loses this afternoon, you didn’t lose. You can’t. You aren’t on the field. But you are in your own arena. You are out there risking something. Maybe only you know what. And that is something to be cherished, not to shy away from. It sets you apart. Apart from those who won’t clamber out of the crowd and take risks of their own. Win or lose. Success or failure. Just be in the arena. Keegan Bradley may not win today, but he took a risk many others would not tackle. And that in my mind is a victory in of itself.