Tea with Teddy by Robert

Tea with Teddy by Robert - October 2017 Scholarship Essay

I love food. You put any food in front of me, I am almost certain that I will eat it. Dinner time is the best. There are so many unique and creative dishes out there for dinner that you cannot necessarily eat for breakfast or lunch which makes dinner time special.
I love history. From textbooks to documents to videos, I love learning about the past. History is my favorite subject in school because history is “his-story”. History is people telling their story which is so impowering.
If you add in the 26th President of the United States, a man highly respected by many people, Theodore Roosevelt then it is a great day for me. I get to have food and talk history with a man that I think helped this country out far more than we know. If I could have dinner with one U.S. President I would pick Theodore Roosevelt.
Roosevelt is a name that is not mentioned often as one of the greatest Presidents in American history but should be. When people think about great Presidents, they often cite Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Kennedy and Reagan. Not Roosevelt. The man deserves more credit than he is getting. Yes, he has his face craved into Mount Rushmore but still people talk more about Washington and Lincoln (both of whom also have their faces craved into Mount Rushmore) than Teddy Roosevelt. The 26th President of the U.S. had almost every job in civil service during his life. From President to author to Governor to solider, Roosevelt has seen a lot and done a lot which would make for a tasty dinner and conversation with him.
Teddy Roosevelt was a man who wore “many hats”. At age 42, he became the youngest person to serve as the President of the U.S. He was a natural born leader, leading the Progressive Movement during the early 1900s. He cherished his “Square Deal” helping the people in this country. There was the political genius side of Roosevelt that many people admired and still admire him for but the other side of Roosevelt that people love is his love for nature. He founded national parks and took he steps in preserving nature for future generations. Yes, Roosevelt is the reason why you can visit places like the Grand Canyon and the Great Smokey Mountains. His nature side also trickled into his foreign policy where he helped build the world-famous Panama Canal. He was a soldier in the Spanish-American War. He was the Assistant Secretary of the Navy. He was the Governor of New York. You name it, there’s a good chance Theodore Roosevelt’s done it.
To have an opportunity to eat with an extraordinary and interesting man that helped change this country and did so many positive things for this nation would be remarkable. To be able to get “inside” his mind and to see the things he saw through his eyes would be something that could help me grow as a person.
The main reason why I picked Teddy Roosevelt to eat dinner with is because he best resembles me. Teddy gave his whole life to helping others, inspiring others. He wanted to make America and everyone in it the best that they could possibly be. He worked hard, never complained. He never gave up either; he always pushed through challenges. He dedicated his life to people and this country. I can relate to that. I am a young high school senior that already knows that I want to give back to others, help society. Our world right now is going through a lot of hate and violence. 58. That’s the number of people murder in Las Vegas in early October 2017 for no other reason than hate. If we, if I can become more like Teddy Roosevelt, this country would be a lot more loving and happier, something Theodore campaigned on- peace and prosperity. As the man himself said, “Believe you can and you’re halfway there”. If Americans, including myself can believe that we can be nicer, more understanding and more welcoming of each other then we can, as a society, grow and be better. This is what Teddy would have wanted.