There was a news story today about a high wire walker who
walked over Sarasota, Florida today. They showed a picture of him walking
carefully on the tightrope and holding that big stick for balance. And that’s
when it hit me: that must be what Teddy Roosevelt really meant when he said: “Walk softly and carry a big
stick”! He wasn’t referring to diplomacy or foreign policy; he was talking
about walking on a tightrope!
Hey, we all know (or at least we all ought to know) that Teddy Roosevelt was a daring and complex
man who enjoyed all kinds of challenges. So, then, it’s only natural that he
would be a tightrope walking man! (I mean, right?) So he must have walked a
tightrope over the Panama Canal, and that’s why he built the thing to begin
with! And biased historians have twisted his quote to mean something else that
brainwashes us into thinking he was a passive-aggressive negotiator. But
really, he was just a man who regretted never running away and joining the
circus. (I’m sure Doris Kearns Goodwin will back me up on this, right Doris?)
Oh, and here’s the teddy tightrope tale:
