Roosevelt engaged in multiple activities and in a myriad of accomplishments. I cannot tell through his biographers whether he engaged in these activities for their sake or for the sake of how it made him appear. Certainly, it must be some percentage of both.
But in some sense, it seems as though his charm came from his serious engagement with the activities themselves. Whether it was climbing the Matterhorn or hunting buffalo in the Dakotas, he seemed to throw himself into the activity, purely for the sake of the activity.
Most of us engage in the activities primarily for what they can do for people’s perception of us. Roosevelt may have been different.
In any case, there is something to be learned from living in the moment rather than for the future’s perception of that moment.
