九岁孩子眼中的罗斯福

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·罗斯福逝世100周年纪念日，而媒体几乎没有任何反应，这令我相当失望。一直以来，他都被认为是最伟大的总统之一。这是我从小就知道的。

是的，我是个不寻常的孩子。到我九岁时，我有了一位最喜欢的总统。或许就是因为那次去纽约美国自然历史博物馆的旅行，在那里我第一次看到了西奥多·罗斯福的大型猎物。抑或是我在一本书中偶然看到他穿着鹿皮装，双臂交叉在胸前，准备向世界挑战。又或许是我母亲播下的种子，她告诉我西奥多小时候身体有多不好，以及他是如何通过追求“艰苦生活”来发展身心的。

除了华盛顿和林肯，我觉得其他早期的美国总统与西奥多·罗斯福相比似乎都很古板。他们的形象是棕褐色的，用椭圆形相框框起来悬挂在国家文法学校的墙壁上。在罗斯福时代之前，很少有人知道他们的总统是什么样子的。相比之下，特迪是美国第一位“公共”首席执行官，这在很大程度上要归功于他自我宣传的天赋。

他的女儿艾丽斯在回忆时谈到，她的父亲“总想在每场葬礼上成为尸体，在每场婚礼上成为新娘，在每场洗礼仪式上成为婴儿。”他总把自己设计成众人关注的焦点，而我也不想让他成为其他任何方式的人。跨上一匹跳跃的战马，冲上圣胡安山，或者边挥舞着拳头边给崇拜他的民众作演讲，西奥多·罗斯福所做的事都在彰显着他的力量和干劲。他曾经写道：“我只有一个二流的大脑，但我认为我有行动力。”

罗斯福写了三十多卷书，而且他读起书来如饥似渴，即使身为总统，每天也都读一本书，这是一件很让人称奇的事情。他阅读了海量的文学作品，从诗歌到古典文学再到自然历史。他还会说法语，而且能读懂希腊语和拉丁语。

现在我想起了西奥多·罗斯福成为我年轻时的偶像的真正原因。我是个瘦小的孩子，经常受人欺负。我喜欢大自然和书籍。我想学外语。西奥多·罗斯福是我的总统，他的成功使我的愿望具体化了。如果我能像他那样，生活该有多美好啊。

我意识到，在我九岁的时候，我冒着偶像化传记的风险，把一个事实上非常微妙的人格理想化了。如今作为一个成年人，我发现西奥多·罗斯福比我小时候所了解的更加复杂，也有更多缺陷。是的，他支持过普通大众，但他也持有种族观点，这在他那个时代很平常，但在如今则会遭到反对。而且在一个渴望多方面和平的世界里，他的好战倾向在今天看来可能比美国早期刚开始秀实力那会儿更容易引起争端。

尽管如此，对于一个来自新泽西州的生活在城市里的孩子来说，罗斯福代表着冒险、广阔的空间、抑制不住的活力和乐观。随着时间的推移以及我的成长，我可能渐渐了解了他个人的缺点，但比起一直以来他在我心中健壮、有远见且勇敢的形象，这些缺点都不值得一提了。

我上大学后，和西奥多·罗斯福一样学习古典文学。我记得读过古希腊将军伯里克利的文章，他在其著名的祭文中说了一些我认为在我们这个时代特别有价值的话，似乎是在保留宽恕的美德：“他作为一位公民的优点胜过作为个人的所有缺点。”

我想这位老莽骑兵也会觉得他说得很对。

1. Teddy Roosevelt： 西奥多·罗斯福（1858—1919），人称老罗斯福，美国军事家、政治家、外交家，第26任美国总统。

2. panoply： 大批。

3. strenuous： 艰苦的。

4. stuffy： 一本正经的，古板的。

5. sepia： 深褐色；tone： 给（画）定色调。

6. reminiscence： 回忆；christening：洗礼。

7. astride： 跨着，骑着；stallion： 种马；pound： 连续猛击或敲打；bespeak： 展现，显示。

8. voracious： （对知识、信息等）渴求的，贪婪的。

9. crystallize： 使具体化。

10. hagiography： 将主角理想化（偶像化的）传记。

11. champion： 捍卫，支持；harbor：怀有。

12. bellicose： 好战的；streak： 个性特征，倾向；divisive： 引起分裂的，造成不和的；flex ones muscles：显示实力（尤指作为对他人或他国的警告或威胁）。

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

14. oration： 演讲，演说。

15. Rough Rider： 莽骑兵，是1898年美西战争时罗斯福组织的一支由牛仔、矿工、原住民等组成的自愿骑兵队。