The River of Doubt

,I know that I promised to blog on a number of topics but somehow the time keeps slipping away and other more pressing matters occur. However, I'm back on track now. As part of my blogging observations, I have occasionally referenced a book that I think everyone should read. So since a book I recently read was on my mind and its relevance to the current campaign timely, my topic today is "The River of Doubt" by Candice Millard.

After his humiliating defeat in the 1912 election, Theodore Roosevelt set out for South America with a large contingency including his son Kermit, to endure another punishing physical challenge and heal the wounds of defeat. The book recounts the grueling ordeal that Roosevelt and his party encountered down an unmapped, rapids-choked tributary of the Amazon - Rio da Duvida, the River of Doubt. During their descent of the river they encountered starvation, Indian attacks, disease...the list goes on and on. It's a great book and gives a vivid insight into the fortitude and courage of one of my favorite presidents, Theodore Roosevelt.

In many ways that journey and the book's title, "The River of Doubt" reminds me occasionally of this campaign for governor. While the challenges of a statewide campaign hardly compare to the physical challenges Roosevelt experienced, the mental challenges certainly seem similar. Probably every candidate, exhausted after a long stretch of meet and greets, speeches, fielding inquiries from the press, questionable poll numbers and working the phones in search of elusive campaign money has experienced his or her own river of doubt. I'm sure we've all asked ourselves "why did I get into this?" much as Roosevelt and his fellow adventurers must have asked themselves.

The wonderful part of books like this is not just the enjoyable read, but the lessons that you either learn or have reinforced by the experiences of those bold and dedicated individuals that come to life in the pages of the story. No matter how bad the circumstances, they pushed on. And while T.R. lay deathly ill half way through the journey and encouraged the rest to go on without him, Kermit and the others would not hear of it. In the end they survived but the effect of the trip would ultimately take its fatal toll. But I have no doubt that Roosevelt would have said that making the trip was worth the pain.

So as I ponder the next five months down the first stretch of this political river of doubt, I can take comfort and strength from this book. No matter what difficulties exist or lie ahead, this campaign paddles on with a goal in sight and confidence that the goal can be successfully reached.