Katie Meyer was “In the Arena”
How the Stanford soccer star’s untimely death can make us think about “Perfect”
Like many, Katie Meyer’s death made me pause what I was doing and think about what I had just heard. The captain of the Stanford soccer team had her whole life ahead of her because of the excellent education she was getting and her warm smile and outgoing personality. Many often wonder why and how someone could choose to end their life, but her death brings the perspective of what many college and young people face in society.
The drive to be 100% perfect all of the time. Of all the joys social media has brought us, it also has given young people pressure to make one mistake or do not achieve the very top that the world will look at them as a failure when in hindsight, the complete opposite is the case. I am not saying that was Katie’s case, but for many young people, it is.
Katie will be remembered as someone who achieved more in her 22 years than many will achieve in 50, who treated everyone fairly with her warm personality, and who was a loyal friend. The whole sports world paused to remember Katie this week; that is a high tribute. Our thoughts and prayers are with her loved ones, who have got to be going through a lot. When reading about her life, my mind finds the quote of President Theodore Roosevelt’s “Man in the Arena.”
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
In the future, I would hope that as a society, we can be more open with people about how no one is perfect but being active in lots of activities and treating others the right way is as close to perfect as there is. That is the best way to honor Katie’s memory. May she rest in peace.
