WHAT'S ON YOUR MIND
By Scott Hennen
Host of “What’s On Your Mind?” Radio Show
heard on the Flag Family Network including KTGO 1090AM
in Watford City, Williston and Tioga, North Dakota
Theodore Roosevelt gave us one of the greatest tests of leadership ever spoken. It is not the critic who counts. It is not the person pointing fingers from the sidelines. Honor belongs to the one who actually enters the arena, whose face is marred by dust, sweat and blood, who dares greatly, who sometimes succeeds and sometimes fails, but who spends life doing instead of complaining.
That timeless wisdom came to mind after hearing angry rants aimed at President Trump, Republican politicians and the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library project.
The loudest complaints are always the most revealing. Apparently we are now supposed to apologize because generous, successful North Dakotan’s helped build a world class presidential library in the Badlands. Really?
Should Steve and Eileen Scheel apologize? Ron and Mary Alice Bergan? Fred and Joyce Evans? Mike and Victoria Chambers? Gary and Connie Tharaldson? Mike and Peggy Bullinger? John Hess, whose family helped build North Dakota’s energy legacy? A Dallas billionaire, Ross Perot Jr., who continues his father’s patriotic tradition of philanthropy? I could name hundreds more, but you get the point.
These are people who stepped into the arena. They invested. They donated. They built something that will educate generations of Americans. They did not sit behind a keyboard tearing down those who were willing to dream big.
Theodore Roosevelt would have recognized exactly who belongs in the arena.
The critics also mock President Trump and North Dakota native son, Secretary Doug Burgum for celebrating America’s actions against Iran.
History matters.
Iran spent decades sponsoring terrorism, chanting “Death to America,” funding proxy armies across the Middle East and racing toward nuclear weapons capability. Intelligence assessments concluded Iran had accumulated highly enriched uranium and was alarmingly close to converting that material into a usable nuclear weapon. Waiting for a mushroom cloud is not a strategy.
President Trump made a decision consistent with Roosevelt’s “Big Stick” foreign policy. Strength prevented something far worse. Peace is preserved when America’s enemies understand there are consequences for crossing dangerous lines.
Reasonable people can debate military decisions. That is healthy in a republic.
What grows tiresome is the certainty of people who contribute little beyond outrage. Every accomplishment is dismissed. Every success is mocked. Every act of generosity is treated with suspicion. Every problem supposedly proves America is failing.
Meanwhile, the people actually making a difference keep showing up.
They build libraries. They create jobs. They develop energy. They improve communities. They strengthen our military. They give away fortunes earned through decades of hard work so future generations will know the story of Theodore Roosevelt and the values that made America exceptional.
That is the difference between spectators and participants.
Roosevelt had it right more than a century ago. Credit belongs to those willing to enter the arena, risk criticism and accomplish something worthwhile.
The angry voices shouting from the cheap seats will always have another complaint.
The builders will always have another achievement. And history has a funny way of remembering the builders far longer than the critics.