Blog 5- Strenuous Life

The reading this week that I found most interesting and thought provoking was The Strenuous Life. I do not know why but normally I do not really think about history and the importance of it. I never really recognize that society and what the world is like today was because of peoples' actions and efforts in the past. Sounds silly and obvious. Maybe I take a lot of things for granted and do not appreciate or recognize the importance of the past and what brave people did back then that affects me now, but this reading got my brain going a lil bit.

In The Strenuous Life Roosevelt encourages Ameicans to live a strenuous life, obviously. He praises "the man who does not shrink from danger, from hardship, or from bitter toil." This was kind of an interesting idea to me. That life is not supposed to be easy and America did not become what it is today from people sitting on their butts and avoiding the problems of the world. I think this is an important point that Roosevelt is making that many people forget, including me. Usually, I do not enjoy difficult tasks or situations that make me uncomfortable and I avoid them at all costs, but Roosevelt is encouraging people to do the hard tasks and to work hard for what they beleive, because that is what an American does. He also mentions specific people, Lincoln and Grant, and thanks God for their efforts and "iron in the blood of our fathers." I also was curious about that parts where Roosevelt states that the problems of the world and in other countries are the United States' responsibility. I do not know if I agree with this. In some instances, yes, we should intervene if innocent people are dying, but I do not think we are responsible to impose our ideas on other countries as if we are the best and know everything. There are times to intervene and a lot of times to leave the countries be. We had struggles in our history that made us stronger and wiser and other countries might be experiencing similar struggles. We do not need to hold their hand throughout the entire process because they too need to learn from the past as we have.

There are many more points and interesting parts to this reading, but these are a few that I recognized and thought of while reading. Trying to figure out my opinions and what I think about certain topics is a problem I struggle with so I am trying to force myself to take a side and decide what I believe. I am starting to enjoy some of the readings and really trying to appreciate history more by actively thinking about how I am affected by those of the past and how I can contribute and "play a great part in the world."