Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt, Poet

As death draws near, my appreciation for the power of poetry grows. It’s more than enjoyment of the rythm, or the message, or the play of words. Much more.

My appreciation grows from my learning more languages. My appreciation grows from what I know of computers and artificial intelligence. My appreciation grows because of how little I understand of quantum mechanics. Indeed, how little anyone understands the quantum world.

Poetry may be the only true way to represent concepts that are beyond language, beyond numbers, beyond our ability to comprehend. Invoking images that transcend today’s textbooks may be the only way the next generation can break free of the old generation’s ruts.

Invoking images that are rooted in our deep genetic history, in the lives and memories of our very genes, is possibly the only way anyone can truly appreciate where our species has come from. Where it is going.

All that said, the reason for these musings is that I came across a Teddy Roosevelt speech that he made in Paris a century ago. It’s inspiring. And it’s timeless. And it’s poetry.

Absolutely brilliant. I hope you enjoy it as much as I. And I hope you don’t mind the way I’ve broken the lines so that it’s poetic element becomes more evident.

Peace to all.

Teddy’s Poem Starts Here

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.

PS – This video from one of my favorite philosophic duos is what led my to the speech in the first place.

Men Are Dead

I often hear women complaining about how men behave.

The complaints are usually about bad behavior.

Men take too many risks.

Men are abusive.

Abusive to women.

Abusive to themselves.

Men are often described as selfish and self-centered.

They are also called out on being unfaithful.

There’s a lot of evidence for all these claims.

As a man, there is something I wish to call to the attention of women.

Men are dead.

In fact, men are born dead.

Shocking, isn’t it?

Mother Nature did it on purpose when she improved reproduction.

In order for something to be alive, it has to be able to make the next generation.

When binary sex began, each organism was both genders. Any organism swapped stuff from any other organism, and reproduction began.

Sex 2.0 began when organisms had specific roles.

Some carried eggs. The others had stuff to make the eggs grow.

The gender that enables eggs are males. Males usually don’t hang around to see eggs grow.

Some species make the males so small that they hang onto a female their entire life.

Some species get stuff from the male, and then eat him. It’s a noble way for him to support his offspring.

Species like humanity keep the males around. But they don’t have a real job.

And that’s the problem.

Without a job, men get bored. They look for something to do. Often, they look for trouble.

Society doesn’t tell men what to do. It used to, but that changed.

Some men like it when women tell them what to do. Those tend to be the happiest men.

So the next time you meet an unpredictable man, or a man who appears unhappy, think about this.

What will it take to help him feel alive again?

Young Women by any other name

I’m a sensitive sort of guy, in an awkward, macho way.

I now appreciate how much society suppresses, even hates, women. Especially young women.

For this I have to thank the #MeToo movement and Jane Austen.

Proof? Exhibit One. Our language has many names for young women. Not so many for young men.

There must be something that frightens men about a young woman.

Her sexual power over men? The fact that she’s able to create life?

There’s a hint of this hate in the very structure of our language.

In a news article there’s a story of rich men who hire “escorts” and “prostitutes” for selfish reasons.

The reporter might let it slip that these escorts and prostitutes range in age from 16 to 20.

Why aren’t they reported as young women?

I don’t know.

I present this list to you as evidence.

And until our society treats all these young women with respect, I fear for the future.

And here we go: (alphabetized)

• arm candy
• au pair
• ballerina
• bitch
• bride
• cheerleader
• chick
• co-ed
• damsel
• delicate flower
• doll (and all its variants: doll baby, baby doll, et cetera.)
• escort
• eye candy
• flirt
• floozy
• gold digger
• hostess
• jail bait
• lady of the night
• maid (cleaning)
• maid (not cleaning)
• maiden
• missy
• mistress
• moll (old term referring to a gangster’s girl)
• muse
• playboy+ (model, centerfold)
• princess
• prostitute
• sex kitten
• side piece (or “piece on the side”)
• slut
• swimsuit+ (model)
• temptress
• virago (not necessarily young)
• virgin
• whore
• witch

There are more, and I look forward to your comments and suggestions for everything I’ve missed. I’ll update this list as I do so. Thanks. 2023-November-13
Updated 2023-11-14. Granted, many of these can be applied to older women as well, but I’m including those that are ambiguous as to age. Words like “crone” that are specific to older women I’m leaving alone, for now.
Updated 2023-11-15 Few more. Some can be considered more neutral (cheerleader) except that the typical imagery is of a young woman. And words containing “doll” can come in so many variations I’m including only the root. There’s 32 items today.
Updated 2023-11-16 Few new ones. Candy as a root may have more than eye- and arm- but I’ll stop there. I’m also excluding words that are overwhelmingly negative. Bitch used to be such a word, but has acquired a more “tough” aspect in the last few decades.
240117 – added “moll”

My letter to a very special child, and all my friends who will understand.

A letter to M

Asking Questions Correctly

This news item happened in April of 2018, but since MLK is so connected to this issue and its sad repercussions, I figured it would be better to wait for his “week” rather than do it right away.

Basically, an 8th grade teacher asked the kids to list the “good” aspects of slavery.

And the internets erupted.  Probably justifiably so.

 

Point the First, let’s not judge the teacher, the school, or the textbook they were using.  All of them may be implicated in this, but let it go for the moment.

Point the Second, consider some facts concerning slavery.

• The southern US used slaves for almost 200 years before Lincoln asked them to stop.
• These states didn’t invent slavery.  They probably learned all about slaves from two sources:
  • European colonial powers who used them almost everywhere,
  • and from many native sources as well.
• Slavery has been with humans as long as we know.
  • It was prevalent in Africa during the European invasion,
  • Medieval Europe used it in many forms, even if they didn’t call it by the same name, and
  • Ancient Romans, Greeks, and Egyptians all had it as part of their society.
• Finally, and most sadly of all, forms of slavery exist to this day.  This can be a whole post in itself, but consider exhibit one: trafficking in young women as prostitutes.

Point the Third, let’s agree that slavery is something that should be studied.  We should study it so that it never becomes part of our civilization again.

We need to understand why it started.  We need to know why it lasted for so, so very long.  We need to figure out who benefited from slavery.  And most importantly of all, we need to be able to prove, once and for all, to everyone living today, why exactly slavery is bad for everyone.

Where do we start?  We have to start somewhere.  And this is where that poor teacher fumbled.  Because in any competitive relationship, some people “win” and some people “lose.”

So this is what our poor teacher should have done.

• What was it about slavery that caused it to last for so long?
• What is it that forces people to put up with being slaves?
• Does any form of slavery exist today?
• And my favorite, the most basic of them all: What is a good definition of slavery?

Keep in mind, as students of behavior, we shouldn’t call anything “good” or “bad.”  Everything people do is natural, it just is.  At the same time, we should be able to agree that there is something fundamentally wrong with the concept of slavery.  Understanding it properly so that it never happens again (or even today) is what we should be doing.

Good luck, and Happy MLK week!