The Moral of Theodore Roosevelt’s Story

It has been a hectic week. We worked round the clock for Titans, both Alpha Titans and their supporters (but we did not find any clock in the vicinity of us – pardon my lameness, LOL). Yes, they are titans. People who have gone through this deserved such honour. Also, we witnessed the last match of TJC basketball team. The opponent was VJC.

I do not understand why the coach placed the best players at the start of the game, as I noticed that one of the players played throughout the match, until he was too exhausted to perform his best against VJC’s stronger players. It was not supposed to be like that. However, I acknowledge that TJC basketball players are brave fighters. They fight for glory without arrogance; they fight for faith even if the odds were stacked against them. Although they lost to VJC by a 58 to 62, their spirits shall be learnt by each individual. Hopefully next year, the championship shall belong to us.

The match ended. The bus full of spectators of the basketball match came to a halt. The tires screeched. We HC Members jumped off the bus and quickly went to our positions to take care of the logistics of Titans. The titans had started their 5.7km run already. We carried a heavy dispenser full of glucose drink all the way to Lucky High, a hill which was famous for being part of the running track for the TJcians during PE. When we finally reached there, the first runner had run past us. We started distributing cups of drinks to Alpha Titans, watching them to run uphill and disappeared from our sights. Titans, was not only a physical challenge, but a dare of mental states as well. That was why some titans burst to tears not out of physical suffering, but the dismay of their failures of mental challenges. Some of them were obstructed by their physical discomforts. One of our seniors, though he was the first few who completed the long run, suffered great discomforts afterwards. He lay flat on the ground, face pale, eyes blood-shot, lips purple, and body stiff. We placed ice cubes underneath him, and rubbed ice on his limbs as well. He did not submit to what happened to him, however, and told Trinity that he was going to continue the rest of the items. That was how Alpha Titans pulled through the three-day-event.

I have learnt a lot during the Log Event, from what I experienced, and from others, especially Chester. I felt the extreme alertness for the first time. For every tiny bit of a single second, I had to keep my mind, my nerves and my muscles highly attentive. At first I did not do so well, and was scolded by some titans. They did not mean it, but they had been under extremely tense and stressful circumstances. I learnt my lesson quickly, nevertheless.

There was supposed to be a count-er during this event. Theen Yew, Chester and I took turn to take on this role. It was not easy, to maintain the volume of your voice, your concentration and rhythm of breath. But comparing to the titans, who endured great stress and agony, these were the last problems we should be worried about. The command of “Up, down, up, down” that I shouted turned out to be unnatural despite the fact that I maintained my loudness desperately. In contrast, Chester’s command was as powerful, and what was more, it was full of confidence and the easy-man-you-can-do-it attitude. This is what I have to learn gradually. And I realised there was much more to learn to be a leader after Annabelle met us after the Log Event.

According to John C. Maxwell, “leadership develops daily, not in a day.” Just like President Theodore Roosevelt, he kept striving to learn even though he became a president, even though he was not young any more. In his entire life, he refused to submit to hindrances. Once, a French ambassador took a stroll with him through the woods. A stream went into their way. They could have taken a detour, as it was just a leisure walk. But Roosevelt immediately swam across the river.

On January 6, 1919, Theodore Roosevelt passed away in his sleep. People found a book under his pillow. He was still learning and improving himself up to the very last. The Vice President Marshall had phrased it this way: “Death had to take him sleeping, for if Roosevelt had been awake, there would have been a fight.” He was not a person who could give up easily. In Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, he wrote: “Man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated.” This has been my motto.

The spirit of Theodore Roosevelt is remembered and learnt. The TJ basketball team, the titans, and many more people who have overcome difficulties, are all incarnates of his spirit.