THE STORY SO FAR: PART 151

“FAR AND AWAY THE BEST PRIZE THAT LIFE HAS TO OFFER IS THE CHANCE TO WORK HARD AT WORK WORTH DOING”

Theodore Roosevelt

I run across quotes from Teddy Roosevelt frequently, have read about him a great deal, but have never actually read any of his original works.

I am somewhat surprised at this—because he was a prolific author. On the other hand, I have never seen any of his books on a shelf—though I have seen many books about him, and read several. Nonetheless, the picture of him that I will always focus on is that of Brian Keith (as TR) in that magnificent movie, THE WIND AND THE LION.

If you haven’t seen it, your life is unfulfilled. Drop everything, and go hunt. It is a veritable feast of visual spectacle, action, irony, humor, and positively brilliant writing by John Millius.

This is what Wikipedia says about it:

The Wind and the Lion is a 1975 adventure film. It was written and directed by John Milius and starred Sean Connery,Candice Bergen, Brian Keith and John Huston. It was based somewhat on the real-life Perdicaris incident of 1904.

This movie blends historic facts into a violent fictional adventure in which an American woman, Eden Pedecaris (played by Bergen), and her two children are kidnapped by Berber brigand Mulai Ahmed er Raisuli (Connery), prompting U.S. PresidentTheodore Roosevelt (Keith) to send an armed invasion and rescue mission to Morocco. (The real Perdicaris incident involved the kidnapping of a middle-aged man and his stepson, who were not harmed.)

There are all kinds of things in life to love and take pleasure in, but I agree completely with the above Teddy Roosevelt quote. It summarizes exactly what I feel about writing—and does so with brevity and elegance.

The quote was sent to me by my friend, Tim Roderick, who has an uncanny knack of sending me the right quote at the right time. If I waiver—and I do have my weaker moments—in comes a quote with the impact of a war arrow smashing into a shield (You will, of course, be familiar with such a sensation). Hard not to pay attention.

Albeit in a somewhat aggressive way—these guys don’t mess around—I   seem to be much blessed where friends are concerned (and bruised).