An Army of Normal Folks - The Man in the Arena

Episode Date: February 14, 2025

For Shop Talk, Coach Bill and Alex dive into one of their favorite speeches, President Teddy Roosevelt's "The Man In The Arena", and what the Army can learn from it.Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/premiumSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey everybody, welcome to shop talk number 41. Welcome in. How you doing Alex? Good. It's good to be in. Welcome in. Are you looking for anything in particular or just hanging out talking? What do you mean?

Well you're in the shop. I don't know if you can find anything today. I'm trying to find a new wife. How about that? Oh my god. Let's go. Wow. Lisa.

Lisa, she's in the back sewing. She's in the back making dresses for the dress rack over there in the corner of the shop. All right. This thing is called you know, this is kind of a crossover of shop talk and an army of normal dead folks. Sure, a little bit, but we're putting it on shop talk. And honestly, this thing's inspired by our very own Alex Cortez. In 1910, the year after he left the presidency, Teddy Roosevelt embarked on a whirlwind overseas tour that included everything from visits to major capitals and heads of state to expeditions into African jungles in order to collect specimens for the Smithsonian. On April 23rd at the Sorbonne, is it Sorbonne or Sorbonne? I think it's Sorbonne. I think it is. On April 23rd at the Sorbonne and

the Grand Amphitheater of the University of Paris, he delivered a speech titled, Citizenship in a Republic that the world would simply remember as, The Man in the Arena. The amphitheater was jam-packed with professors and politicians, ministers of state, and navy officers in full regalia, nearly a thousand students and an additional two thousand ticket holders. Here is the most famous passage from it. 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 the 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 this place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. I've read this thing 10 times in my life and every time I do, I get a little bit of chill up my spine. And today we're gonna talk about having the courage

to be the man in the arena right after these brief messages from our generous sponsors. This is David Eagleman, host of the Science Podcast, Inner Cosmos. For Valentine's Day, we're diving into the question, what is love from the brain's point of view? What does love have to do with how you were raised or the symmetry of someone's face or the smell of their underarms? Why does the character of love change throughout our lives? Why is heartbreak like drug withdrawal? And what does any of this have to do with sweaty t-shirts or rom-coms or monogamous

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Oh man, this is fun. I'm AJ Jacobs and I am an author and a journalist and I tend to get obsessed with stuff. And my current obsession is puzzles. And that has given birth to my podcast, The Puzzler. Dressing. Dressing. Oh, French dressing. Exactly.

Ha ha ha! Oh, that's good. Now you can get your daily puzzle nuggets delivered straight to your ears. I thought to myself, I bet I know what this is. And now I definitely know what this is. This is so weird. This is fun.

Let's try this one. Our brand new season features special guests like Chuck Bryant, Mayim Bialik, Julie Bowen, Sam Sanders, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and lots more. Listen to The Puzzler every day on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. That's awful, and I should have seen it coming. What if you ask two different people the same set of questions? Even if the questions are the same, our experiences can lead us to drastically different answers. I'm Minnie Driver, and I set out to explore this idea

in my podcast, Minnie Questions. Over the years, we've had some incredible guests. People like Courtney Cox, star of the infinitely beloved sitcom Friends, EGOT winner Viola Davis, and former Prime Minister of the UK Tony Blair. And now Mini Questions is returning for another season. We've asked an entirely new set of guests our seven questions including Jane Lynch, Delaney Rowe and Cord Jefferson. Each episode is a new person's story with new lessons, new memories and new connections

to show us how we're both similar and unique. Listen to mini questions on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Seven questions, limitless answers. Snakes, zombies, sharks, heights, speaking in public, the list of fears is endless. But while you're clutching your blanket in the dark, wondering if that sound in the hall was actually a footstep, the real danger is in your hand, when you're behind the wheel. And while you might think a great white shark is scary, what's really terrifying and even

deadly is distracted driving. Eyes forward, don't drive distracted. Brought to you by NHTSA and the Ad Council. Everybody, welcome back to Shop Talk Number 41, the man in the arena. Alex, chat talks are short vignettes, but I could literally talk about this for about seven and a half hours. Let's go baby. No, we're gonna do it very quickly. This was written I think in 1910, or at least it was a speech in 1910. But it's interesting. It's not the critics who count, but we flock to CNN and Fox on a nightly basis

to listen to what the critics say about all these folks who are out there trying. What do you think about that, Alex? There's that. I mean, there's also the stuff like Walt Disney. I don't know if you remember. They called it Disney's Folly, I think, when he was trying to make Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

And he would call them the naysayers. Very similar to this too. So just even outside of politics too with business or I've had people with it with an army of normal folks, you know, that's not going to work or it's not working well enough and there's always going to be these naysayers and these critics out there. Yeah, that sit by on the sidelines while risking nothing, taking shots at the people that are out there trying to make something happen. And Teddy Roosevelt reminds us that those of us who are trying, we may fail, but our

place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory or defeat. I would say those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat are just a bunch of side-lined wusses who are unwilling to at least try. For instance, today going on right now in Memphis, and like his politics or not, and I don't want to get into it, but like his politics or not, Elon Musk is building the world's largest supercomputer called XAI in Memphis. Billions and billions of dollars in investment. He bought an abandoned warehouse that the city was on the hook for, bailed

the city out when he bought that. Now he's investing billions of dollars in an area that needs investment. And these supercomputers need water, lots of it. Well, Memphis sits on a natural aquifer and Memphis largely regards that aquifer as a huge asset. And we don't want all our water going to cool a supercomputer because it's our drinking water and it sustains us. So Elon Musk Company is now building a gray water plant. It's going to cost $80 million. The city wanted to build a gray water plant, It's going to cost 80 million dollars. The city wanted to build

a gray water plant which basically takes sewage and wastewater and cleans it so it can be used in industrial cooling applications. But the city didn't have the money to do it. Musk is going to build it out of his pocket and they're only going to use about 30 percent of the wastewater that's turned into usable water from the gray water plant. The other 70% will go back to the city, go to New Corp Steel, and back to TVA. It's a gift and people are taking shots at it because they want to know what's the real reason behind it and all this other stuff. And these people who are taking shots at it have never once met a payroll. They're politicians. They're all

these people sitting on the sidelines taking shots at this thing all the while having never risked a thing in their life. They're the very people who Roosevelt talks about are cold and timid souls who never know victory or defeat, who don't toil with the blood, the sweat and the tears. It's the man in the arena who makes a difference. Why does that matter? How does that pertain to an army of normal folks? If you see an area of need in your world and you know you could fill it but are afraid of failure or afraid of the unknown and don't

even make the effort because of that fear, you will join the ranks of the people who will be among the cold and timid souls who will never know victory or defeat. It doesn't matter if you fail, you have to put yourself in the arena. You will know failure, you will err, you will know shortcoming. But as he tells us, when you actually strive to do the deeds, you will know the great enthusiasm, you will understand the great devotion, you will spend time on a worthy cause, and you will at the end, no triumph of high achievement or at the worst, if you fail fail you still fail daring greatly So that you don't join the ranks of those cold and timid souls who neither know victory or defeat

Don't be that have the courage to step out when you see a need and fill it and army of normal folks have to be Teddy Roosevelt's people in the arena. And failure is fine. Hopefully you reach achievement. But an effort with failure is so far greater than not having ever tried in the first place because of your timidity. That's the call of the man in the arena. And

ironically enough, this speech is titled citizenship in a republic. If we are actually going to grow this republic of ours, this this democracy of ours, if we're going to be citizens in a republic, we are only as good as our citizens willingness to risk our citizens willingness to throw our hat in the arena. That is in business that is in business, that is in politics, that is everywhere, but is also in our philanthropic social endeavors. So, Shop Talk number 41, an army of normal folks requires that we are the people in the arena who understand that citizenship and republic requires us to throw our hat in the arena What do you think Alex? couple other thoughts I

Can't find it online But I remember reading somewhere before to that the speech was largely a celebration of the common man as well Which is interesting he goes to this university in Paris and here he is celebrating the common American man the army of normal folks. Yeah. And I think this speech can also speak to, I mean, say you're the dad or the single mom or just the parent who's dropping their kids off at school and busting their butt at work every day and coming home and dealing with dinner and dealing with their homework and

all these things too. I mean, that person who's in the arena and feels the dust and sweat and blood. I mean obviously we talk about philanthropically what we could do for other people, but just the daily grind of being in the arena. I find this speech something I go back to constantly and it also reminds me of two other of my favorite quotes of St. Paul's, I fought the good fight, I finished the race, I kept the faith. For those of us who are Christian, God's not asking us to win the race, it's to run the race and to be faithful and to finish it. Darrell Bock That's interesting because Roosevelt's here

saying he's not celebrating the people who win. He's just celebrating the people who will invest their blood, their sweat, and their toil. Chris Bounds It's better to be in the arena and fail than those people who never tried. That's it. That's it. So everybody out there, when you see an area of need, don't worry if you're going to be successful or not filling it. Just freaking try and we can celebrate the effort. The final one of one of my other favorite quotes Helen Keller said life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all Security does not exist in nature

Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than exposure Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all There it is. Yeah Shop talk number 41. It's a calling to each of you to throw your hat in and be in the arena to be a full citizen of our Republic to have the courage to try and to maybe no triumph or maybe no failure, but to not be someone who just doesn't even have the courage to make the effort. If you like this shop talk, please rate and review it, share it with friends and on social, join the army. And normalfolks.us, become a premium member there. Yeah, you can write me anytime at bill at normalfolks.us and hopefully what you have to say, I have something to add.

And if not, I'll always respond. And thanks for our producer, Iightlight Labs. We'll see you next week. After you, sir. You forgot to ring the bell? Oh, I... Are you leaving? No, I'm not leaving.

You're staying in the shop overnight? I'm staying in the shop. Dressing, dressing. Oh, French dressing. Exactly. Ha ha, that's good. I'm AJ Jacobs and my current obsession is puzzles. And that has given birth to my podcast, The Puzzler. Something about Mary Poppins?

Exactly. This is fun. You can get your daily puzzle nuggets delivered straight to your ears. Listen to The Puzzler every day on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, it's Alec Baldwin. This past season on my podcast, Here's the Thing, I spoke with more actors, musicians, policymakers, and so many other fascinating people like writer and actor Dan Aykroyd. I love writing more than anything. You're left alone, you know, you do three hours in the morning,

you write three hours in the afternoon, go pick up a kid from school and write at night. And after nine hours, you come out with seven pages and then you're moving on. Listen to Here's the Thing on the iHeartRadioApp Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. What if you ask two different people the same set of questions? Even if the questions are the same, our experiences can lead us to drastically different answers. I'm Minnie Driver and I set out to explore this idea in my podcast and now, Minnie Questions is returning for another season. We've asked an entirely new set of guests our seven questions, including Jane Lynch, Delaney Rowe, and Cord Jefferson.

Listen to Mini Questions on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Seven questions, limitless answers. Snakes, zombies,. Sharks. Heights. Speaking in public? The list of fears is endless. But while you're clutching your blanket in the dark, wondering if that sound in the hall was actually a footstep, the real danger is in your hand.

When you're behind the wheel. And while you might think a great white shark is scary, what's really terrifying, and even deadly, is distracted driving. Eyes forward, don't drive distracted. Brought to you by NHTSA and the Ad Council.