DMc
***
On
February 14, 1884, a young man wrote in his diary, "The light has gone out
of my life."
It was an
understandable moment of despair. He was just 26 years old, and his beloved wife
of four years had just died in his arms, leaving him a single father to a one
day old baby girl. His beloved mother had died earlier in that same day, so at
once he'd become an orphan and a widower and a single parent.
It
was two days before he could write again. In his next entry he detailed the
courtship of his wife, and the christening of his daughter, and on the 17th he
detailed the burying of his wife and mother. "For joy or for sorrow,"
he wrote, "my life has now been lived out."
Except...He
was wrong.
Two
years later he would marry again. He would have more children. He'd go on to
become a cattle rustler on the Badlands. When he returned to New York, he'd
take up a job as Police Commissioner, cleaning up the corrupt force. When the
Spanish American War broke out, he'd lead a cavalry brigade in Cuba called The Rough Riders.
Two
years later, he became Governor of New York. Less than two years later, Vice
President of the United States. And then, eight months after that, upon the
assassination of William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt became the 26th President of the United States.
He
was 42 years old -- the youngest President ever to assume office. Roosevelt went on to help to create the National Park
system, oversee construction of the Panama Canal, take on the Trusts and reform
capitalism in the United States. He won the Nobel Peace Prize. They put his face on a mountain. He's
universally considered to be one of the United States' Greatest Presidents.
And
that daughter, Alice, grew up to be the toast of Washington and live a life
full of scandal and going her own way. She outlived all his other children.
A
few years ago now, I was lucky enough to be doing a story at the Library of Congress just as they were digitizing pages from this diary. I put on white
gloves and was able to hold the book in my hands and stare at those words.
"For joy or for sorrow, my life has now been lived out." I was pretty unhappy at that time. I wanted
to sob. It was so human and almost unbearable.
But
I think of it every year. And for a lot of years I thought of it alone. No more
for me. I'm as happy as I'll probably ever be and that is indeed a good
thing.
So
if you'll indulge me, please let me say to you that today, you may feel like
there's no light in your life. But never forget that your life, for better or
for worse, is not "lived out."
If a bull headed Type A guy like Teddy Roosevelt can be wrong about such
things, well, then, I trust you'll see that maybe your troubles aren't so special,
nor so vast that they can't be overcome.
