A friend sent an email in response to a quote from Roosevelt I had
shared with him. I don't understand what my friend's response is
referencing. What is he
referring to or what is the context of Roosevelt's comment?

"According to Teddy Roosevelt, those Arab guys imprisoned down at
Guantanamo Bay, for example, are truly sucking the marrow of vibrant
life!"

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Request for Question Clarification by juggler-ga on 25 Sep 2003 19:08 PDT

What was the original quote that you shared with your friend?

If you share it with us, it might help us make some sense of your friend's response.

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Clarification of Question by pgilbert-ga on 26 Sep 2003 04:05 PDT

Here is the note that I sent to him - he's actually someone we are
recruiting not a friend though I don't know if that adds any context:
Bob,

Hi. Wondering if you have some potential times for us to get together
and
have some drinks/bbq, etc.

We're fired up too to keep talking with you. We're looking to do
something
rather extraordinary here and want to engage people who are missioned
to do
something extraordinary as well.
Warm regards, Paul

Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs-even
though
checkered by failure than to take rank with these poor spirits who
neither
enjoy much or suffer much. Be wise, they live in the gray twilight
that know
not of victory, nor defeat. Nor true sorrow nor true love.
                                               --Theodore Roosevelt

Hi.

Okay, your friend's meaning seems pretty clear.

He's ridiculing Teddy Roosevelt's quote. 

Teddy Roosevelt said that it's "far better... to dare mighty things...
than to take rank with these poor spirits who neither enjoy much or
suffer much."

Teddy Roosevelt was idolizing adventure and boldness, and asserting
that it's better to dare something big and fail badly than to not try
at all.

Your friend's response is, in other words, "Oh, yeah, Teddy?  Gee,
those Al Qaeda guys down in Guantanamo Bay dared mighty things, and
are suffering, and know defeat.  I guess those guys sure must be
happy, huh, Teddy?"

Your friend is pointing out the potential absurdity of Teddy
Roosevelt's philosophy.  The reality is that if you dare something
big, and fail badly, and are suffering (like the Al Qaeda guys in
Guantanamo Bay), it's not really very glorious at all. It's probably
quite miserable. In fact, if you're in the situation, you're almost
certainly aware that you'd have been happier and better off if you
were one of those "poor spirits" who Teddy Roosevelt pities for never
knowing victory or defeat.

I hope this helps.

That is an articulate answer - thank you.

pgilbert,
I think i understand what you friend meant.

Teddy Roosevelt would be surprised with this connection. He was not
thinking of arabs, or any other groups.
he just meant to think big so that life has a meaning (success or
failure), which is far more better than a dull middle of the road
tasteless life
your friend implies that the "illegal fighters" jailed in Gitmo have
lived their lives in accordance with what T. roosevelt said : they
lived 100% what they thought (and witnessed failure according to your
friend, if the ironical hint at the marrow of life is anything to go
by)

In the movie "dead poets society", to suck the marrow of life was
associated with the latin saying carpe diem ("enjoy the day" or enjoy
your life).


"I went into the woods because I wanted to live deliberately. I wanted
to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life. To put to rout all
that was not life, and not when I had come to die, discover that I had
not lived."

-Henry David Thoreau