By Robert Klose

I was rather disappointed when the 100th anniversary of Theodore Roosevelts death， on Jan. 6， was given little if any notice by the media. In the panoply2 of presidents， he is traditionally cited as one of the greats. This was something I was aware of from an early age.

Yes， I was an unusual kid. By the time I was 9， I had a favorite president. It might have been that trip to the American Museum of Natural History in New York where I first saw T. R.s big-game trophies. Or maybe that image of him I ran across in a book， in buckskins with his arms crossed over his chest， ready to take on the world. Or maybe it was my mother who planted the seed， telling me what a sickly child Theodore had been， and how he had committed himself to developing both body and mind through his pursuit of the “strenuous3 life.”

Washington and Lincoln aside， the other early U.S. presidents seemed rather stuffy4 to me when compared to T. R. Their images were sepia toned and hung in oval frames lining the walls of the nations grammar schools.5 Before Roosevelts time， few people even knew what their president looked like. Teddy， by contrast， was Americas first “public” chief executive， thanks in great part to his gift for self-promotion.

In one of her reminiscences， his daughter Alice remarked that her father “always wanted to be the corpse at every funeral， the bride at every wedding and the baby at every christening.”6 He was the center of attention by his own design， and I didnt want him any other way. Astride a leaping stallion， charging up San Juan Hill， or pounding his fist as he addressed adoring audiences， T. R. bespoke energy，7 if nothing else. He once wrote， “I have only a second rate brain， but I think I have a capacity for action.”

It was an odd thing to say， considering that Roosevelt wrote more than 30 volumes and was a voracious8 reader who read a book a day， even as president. He consumed a tremendous spectrum of literature， from poetry to classics to natural history. He also spoke French and could read Greek and Latin.

Now it comes back to me—the real why of Theodore Roosevelt in my young life. I was a skinny kid. I was bullied. I loved nature and books. I wanted to learn foreign languages. T. R. was my president because his success crystallized9 my aspirations. If I could only be like Teddy， how sweet life would be.

I realize that in speaking as the 9-yearold I was， I run the risk of hagiography10， of idealizing a man who was， in fact， a very nuanced personality. As an adult I now see that T. R.was more complicated， and flawed， than I could have grasped as a child. Yes， he championed the common man， but he also harbored racial views that were matter-of-fact in his time but would meet with disfavor today.11 And in a world yearning for peace on many fronts， his bellicose streak might be more divisive today than it was in an earlier America just beginning to flex its muscles.12

Still， for a city kid from New Jersey Roosevelt represented adventure， wide-open spaces， and irrepressible energy and optimism. Over time， as I grew， I may have had inklings of his personal shortcomings， but they were subsumed by the robust， forward-looking， bully man I always perceived Teddy to be.13

By the time I got to college I was studying the classics， as T. R. had. I recall reading Pericles， the Greek general， who in his famous funeral oration14 said something I find particularly valuable in our age， which sometimes seems so sparing of the virtue of forgiveness： “His merits as a citizen outweighed his demerits as an individual.”

I think the old Rough Rider15 would have called that fair enough.

1月6日是西奧多·羅斯福逝世100周年紀(jì)念日，而媒體幾乎沒有任何反應(yīng)，這令我相當(dāng)失望。一直以來，他都被認(rèn)為是最偉大的總統(tǒng)之一。這是我從小就知道的。

是的，我是個(gè)不尋常的孩子。到我九歲時(shí)，我有了一位最喜歡的總統(tǒng)?；蛟S就是因?yàn)槟谴稳ゼ~約美國(guó)自然歷史博物館的旅行，在那里我第一次看到了西奧多·羅斯福的大型獵物。抑或是我在一本書中偶然看到他穿著鹿皮裝，雙臂交叉在胸前，準(zhǔn)備向世界挑戰(zhàn)。又或許是我母親播下的種子，她告訴我西奧多小時(shí)候身體有多不好，以及他是如何通過追求“艱苦生活”來發(fā)展身心的。

除了華盛頓和林肯，我覺得其他早期的美國(guó)總統(tǒng)與西奧多·羅斯福相比似乎都很古板。他們的形象是棕褐色的，用橢圓形相框框起來懸掛在國(guó)家文法學(xué)校的墻壁上。在羅斯福時(shí)代之前，很少有人知道他們的總統(tǒng)是什么樣子的。相比之下，特迪是美國(guó)第一位“公共”首席執(zhí)行官，這在很大程度上要?dú)w功于他自我宣傳的天賦。

他的女兒艾麗斯在回憶時(shí)談到，她的父親“總想在每場(chǎng)葬禮上成為尸體，在每場(chǎng)婚禮上成為新娘，在每場(chǎng)洗禮儀式上成為嬰兒。”他總把自己設(shè)計(jì)成眾人關(guān)注的焦點(diǎn)，而我也不想讓他成為其他任何方式的人?？缟弦黄ヌS的戰(zhàn)馬，沖上圣胡安山，或者邊揮舞著拳頭邊給崇拜他的民眾作演講，西奧多·羅斯福所做的事都在彰顯著他的力量和干勁。他曾經(jīng)寫道：“我只有一個(gè)二流的大腦，但我認(rèn)為我有行動(dòng)力?！?/p>

羅斯福寫了三十多卷書，而且他讀起書來如饑似渴，即使身為總統(tǒng)，每天也都讀一本書，這是一件很讓人稱奇的事情。他閱讀了海量的文學(xué)作品，從詩(shī)歌到古典文學(xué)再到自然歷史。他還會(huì)說法語，而且能讀懂希臘語和拉丁語。

現(xiàn)在我想起了西奧多·羅斯福成為我年輕時(shí)的偶像的真正原因。我是個(gè)瘦小的孩子，經(jīng)常受人欺負(fù)。我喜歡大自然和書籍。我想學(xué)外語。西奧多·羅斯福是我的總統(tǒng)，他的成功使我的愿望具體化了。如果我能像他那樣，生活該有多美好啊。

我意識(shí)到，在我九歲的時(shí)候，我冒著偶像化傳記的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)，把一個(gè)事實(shí)上非常微妙的人格理想化了。如今作為一個(gè)成年人，我發(fā)現(xiàn)西奧多·羅斯福比我小時(shí)候所了解的更加復(fù)雜，也有更多缺陷。是的，他支持過普通大眾，但他也持有種族觀點(diǎn)，這在他那個(gè)時(shí)代很平常，但在如今則會(huì)遭到反對(duì)。而且在一個(gè)渴望多方面和平的世界里，他的好戰(zhàn)傾向在今天看來可能比美國(guó)早期剛開始秀實(shí)力那會(huì)兒更容易引起爭(zhēng)端。

盡管如此，對(duì)于一個(gè)來自新澤西州的生活在城市里的孩子來說，羅斯福代表著冒險(xiǎn)、廣闊的空間、抑制不住的活力和樂觀。隨著時(shí)間的推移以及我的成長(zhǎng)，我可能漸漸了解了他個(gè)人的缺點(diǎn)，但比起一直以來他在我心中健壯、有遠(yuǎn)見且勇敢的形象，這些缺點(diǎn)都不值得一提了。

我上大學(xué)后，和西奧多·羅斯福一樣學(xué)習(xí)古典文學(xué)。我記得讀過古希臘將軍伯里克利的文章，他在其著名的祭文中說了一些我認(rèn)為在我們這個(gè)時(shí)代特別有價(jià)值的話，似乎是在保留寬恕的美德：“他作為一位公民的優(yōu)點(diǎn)勝過作為個(gè)人的所有缺點(diǎn)?！?/p>

我想這位老莽騎兵也會(huì)覺得他說得很對(duì)。

1. Teddy Roosevelt： 西奧多·羅斯福（1858—1919），人稱老羅斯福，美國(guó)軍事家、政治家、外交家，第26任美國(guó)總統(tǒng)。

2. panoply： 大批。

3. strenuous： 艱苦的。

4. stuffy： 一本正經(jīng)的，古板的。

5. sepia： 深褐色；tone： 給（畫）定色調(diào)。

6. reminiscence： 回憶；christening：洗禮。

7. astride： 跨著，騎著；stallion： 種馬；pound： 連續(xù)猛擊或敲打；bespeak： 展現(xiàn)，顯示。

8. voracious： （對(duì)知識(shí)、信息等）渴求的，貪婪的。

9. crystallize： 使具體化。

10. hagiography： 將主角理想化（偶像化的）傳記。

11. champion： 捍衛(wèi)，支持；harbor：懷有。

12. bellicose： 好戰(zhàn)的；streak： 個(gè)性特征，傾向；divisive： 引起分裂的，造成不和的；flex ones muscles：顯示實(shí)力（尤指作為對(duì)他人或他國(guó)的警告或威脅）。

13. inkling： 略知，模糊的想法；subsume： 把……納入，歸入；bully： 快活的，勇敢的。

14. oration： 演講，演說。

15. Rough Rider： 莽騎兵，是1898年美西戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)時(shí)羅斯福組織的一支由牛仔、礦工、原住民等組成的自愿騎兵隊(duì)。