Teddy's Bear

Join Cydni and Sher as they "yee-haw " their way through the life and legacy of Theodore Roosevelt. From Cydni’s “Bull Moose” affirmations to Sher’s reflections on mercy, grit, and stuffed bears, this episode will inspire you to add “I’m a bull moose!” to your daily mantras. This episode is, "Teddy's Bear" and we are so glad you are here!

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This week, go out of your way to do one bold act of compassion – surprise someone with your kindness!

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Show Notes

Drip-Drip Drop, Words and  Music by  Matt Hoiland
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Transcript

Teddy's Bear

Cydni: [00:00:00] All right. Sher. I want you to try to guess which fact is not true about Theodore Roosevelt,

Sher: oh my gosh. I'm gonna do so bad.

Cydni: Number one, he was a Nobel Prize winner, the first American to win a Nobel Prize. Actually, number two, he was shot, but he still completed his speech. He was a cowboy. He was partially blinded due to boxing or the last one. He turned the White House into a zoo, having animals like Guinea pigs, snakes a bear, cub, a badger, a one-legged rooster. And an additional note that his daughter once carried around a snake in her purse. 

Sher: Well, that last one was really detailed, and I know the other ones were all true.

Cydni: They're all true. They're all true. What a man. Right? I love him. Not to mention the teddy bear. Let's just get into this one. Welcome to the Cydni and Sher Podcast. We're glad you're here.

Cydni 

Sher: as you just mentioned today for our summer series, we are going to talk about Theodore Teddy [00:01:00] Roosevelt. So we're gonna start by talking about some facts , which you've already mentioned. Really awesome ones. 

Cydni: he was so fun to learn about. He's funny. He's very outgoing, ambitious, and I have some of his quotes. They're amazing. 

Sher: So in 1912, as you've already mentioned, Cydni, while he was campaigning for president for a third party. It was called the Bull Moose Party. Roosevelt was shot in the chest. The bullet passed through his still eyeglass case and a folded speech that he had in his coat pocket. But he continued to give a 90 minute speech with the bullet still in his body. And when he started his talk, he said it takes more than that to kill a bone moose.

Cydni: I love the bull moose. I, in fact, have added it to my daily affirmations. I look in the mirror and I say, you are enough. You are a bull moose and it takes a lot more than this to kill a bull moose like that. 

Sher: I think you should say it with a little bit more. Wow. 

Cydni: I do, I add [00:02:00] like a lot of swear words, but I didn't wanna do that right now.

Sher: I didn't mean swear words. Oh, I just mean more, 

Cydni: Because I barely have a voice and you're trying to mock me a little bit? Maybe a little. This is my full voice right now. I sound like a 13-year-old boy, and it's just how it's gonna be. And my humor's the same. So 

Sher: This is matchy matchy. You're right. So Theodore Roosevelt also started the whole idea of America's National Park system. He was definitely a conservationist. Roosevelt established five national parks, 18 national monuments, 150 national forests, and over 50 wildlife refuges.

Cydni: The truth is, the more we learn about him, the more you realize. Everyone has the same amount of time and we sure use it differently. 

Sher: He definitely used it differently than I do.

Cydni: I know. 'cause I'm like, I sent 18 reels to my brother. I liked 150 comments. I yelled at my kids 50 times. That's all. That's my day. 

Sher: That was more than me. 

Cydni: You gotta get better at sending those reels to people. It's the foundation [00:03:00] of friendship. 

Sher: I'll work on that. So he was the first president to leave the country while in office. In 1906, Roosevelt traveled to Panama to inspect the construction of the Panama Canal, and it was the first time a sitting US president traveled abroad anywhere. He was also, as you mentioned, a cowboy. He was part of the rough riders in the Spanish American War. 

Cydni: Shout out to Pima High School rough riders. Oh really? That was our mascot. Who knew? Yeah. I could do a cheer for you later 

Sher: Oh, I can't wait. Did you know that it was named after Theodore Roosevelt, like a rough rider? 

Cydni: I just thought like it was a dumpster fire, things are rough and you're trying to get through the day, which prepared me really well for my life. I can't remember the chair, but I do know it said Yeehaw. Yeehaw.

Sher: I really love how you said that with your 13-year-old voice. That was fantastic. Thank you. I can remember the, moves and she's doing the moves, let me tell you. I

Cydni: didn't make the chair squad. 

Sher: it shocks me because you do have moves Cydni

Cydni: since we just last week talked about [00:04:00] dance I once was telling people, some of which listen to the podcast, that I didn't make the cheer squad and Miss Anna said, yeah, that's because they don't let those kind of dance moves on the football field. Sit. And I was like, how dare you? But it was really funny. 

Sher: That was a good one, Anna. So anyway, I. Theodore Roosevelt was often sick as a child, He had severe asthma and really poor health, and his father told him, you have the mind, but you must make your body. So Teddy threw himself into exercise. And he became a lifelong fitness enthusiast.

 He loved judo and he loved boxing. And as you mentioned, Cydni, he was blinded in one eye during a boxing match. The thing that I didn't know about this until this episode is he was sparring with a military aid at the White House. all of this happened while he was president, but he kept it secret for years.

Cydni: He said admittedly he had to quit boxing because he was [00:05:00] getting older and so he took up juujitsu instead After that 

Sher: Wise move, I guess.

So he also loved hunting after his presidency. Roosevelt went on a year long safari in Africa. He and his team collected over, I like how I use the word collected. He and his team collected over 11,000 animals, many of which were donated to the Smithsonian and American Museum of Natural History, 11,000. I shot a little bunny rabbit and cried my eyes out. 11,000 animals that they did not collect. They killed them and stuffed them and set them to the Smithsonian. 

Cydni: Oh, okay. I ran over a bunny once and I've never. Forgiven myself. It was so sad and I told my daughter it happened and she retells the story to me often 

Sher: as she should. Speaking Of hunting though, Cydni Roosevelt while he was president, went bear hunting in Mississippi. He didn't get a bear. He was bear less. Aw. That's 

Cydni: very, very [00:06:00] sad.

Sher: But his guides found one for him and tied it to a tree, making it so it was really easy, for him to get a bear. Now, Cydni, I have questions about this story. how did They get this bear tied to the tree. It's a bear. So was it a baby bear? Or it makes me wonder if this story is even true. 

Cydni: I read the detail that it was a very, very old bear. Like a grandpa bear that's pretty messed up to do to the bear. Yeah. But doing it to him who has done a million things with his life, like what a shot in the gut man, you guys think you need to tie a bear for me to shoot him I think they were trying to say, I don't respect you and I'm gonna show it by tying a bear to a tree. I think that's so rude. 

Sher: Well, apparently Roosevelt did too because he refused to shoot the bear calling it unsportsmanlike, which I agree with. I agree. This became a big story in the news, and a guy named Clifford Berryman was a political cartoonist. He read the [00:07:00] article about. Teddy Roosevelt not shooting the bear tied to the tree, and he drew a cartoon about it in the year 1902, and then another guy named Morris Misdom saw the cartoon and decided to make a stuffed Bear in honor of the event he named it after Teddy Roosevelt. He called it Teddy's Bear.

He started selling it in his store and it sold like crazy. Everybody wanted one of these stuffed teddy bears. This teddy bear has been bringing joy to kids like me. For years I had a teddy bear. I always kept it close and it made me happy when I was little. Did you have a teddy bear? 

Cydni: No. My parents weren't into giving us things that made you feel happy. Sorry to bring that up, but my children 

Sher: got teddy bears. Oh, good. I'm glad they did. , My niece gave me two teddy bears after my parents passed away. Aw. She got one of their shirts and made one for my dad And one from my mom, , in their actual shirts that they used to wear. [00:08:00] And she gave it to me. Isn't that nice? That is so sweet. It's, that is a very 

Cydni: thoughtful, very thoughtful gift. 

Sher: I love it. And I used to have it on my bed, but my other dog van absolutely adored my dad. he could smell my dad on that teddy bear shirt and he would always steal it. So I had to put them both on a shelf and they're still there,

Cydni: It's so sweet. 

Sher: Here's what we can learn from this story though. Joy isn't always instant. Sometimes it's from quiet integrity, from a choice to do what's right.

Cydni: Speaking of choosing the right, this is what Theodore Roosevelt, said. In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing. The next best thing you could do is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you could do is nothing. 

Sher: Oh, that is a great quote.

Cydni: And this is not anything to do with anything, but I wrote it down because I'm gonna have to think about it, and now others will have to think about it too. He said, speak softly. Carry a big stick. You'll go far. So What does that mean to you? 

Sher: Well, from teaching history, I can see the cartoon of that in [00:09:00] my head. So I think of the political cartoon that was made about that statement that shows him walking and a little bit behind his back. He's carrying a ginormous stick, getting ready to whack people that aren't going along with his game plan. 

Cydni: So be calm in violence. Absolutely. Okay. That's what I was thinking. That's what came to mind. Okay. 

Sher: But going back to making the right choice, He really did believe that. And that's one of the reasons why he promoted the scouting program is he wanted young men that were patriotic and made good choices. In Matthew chapter five, verse seven, it says, blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy. I learned from studying this topic that mercy is more than forgiveness. It's a form of joyful restraint, and I honestly didn't understand what joyful restraint meant, so I studied it a little bit more, and learned. That we feel joy when we mirror our Savior's compassion.

Remember that [00:10:00] happiness is temporary, joy is lasting. Our life gets filled with more joy as we continue to follow our Savior. Teddy Roosevelt's compassion and mercy has brought millions of kids, joy. 

Cydni: My brother has a story like this 'cause he's a big hunter he had a tag for a bear and he always wanted to hunt a bear down. And there he was in a perfect spot and a bear was walking just in front of him and he was about to pull the trigger and he said something, told him, don't. You know, he's my brother, so he is gonna be more like me. He is like, I'm not gonna listen to that because why would I listen to that clear and obvious prompting. But he said that it was a really strong, just do not shoot that bear. And he paused and he waited. Then behind this bear came three baby bears and he said he never could have forgiven himself if he had shot the mama bear. And I was like, but what if he just shot all of them? Gosh. And that brings us to our challenge. [00:11:00] We challenge you not to shoot a bear this week. 

Sher: Done. 

Cydni: really Our challenge this week is to perform one act of compassion, and we challenge you also to remember the words of Theodore Roosevelt who said, if you could kick the person in the pants most responsible for your troubles, you wanna be able to sit for a month. 

Sher: Also quoted by my father. This brings us to our final thoughts. The story of Theodore Roosevelt reminds us that true strength lies not just in bold speeches or brave adventures, but also in quiet moments of compassion.

From a childhood marked by illness to a presidency filled with resilience in action, Roosevelt showed us how grit, mercy, and integrity can shape a joyful legacy and sometimes that legacy looks like a small, stuffed bear that brings comfort to children around the world. Joy isn't always loud. It can grow from a moment of mercy. A refusal to act harshly, or a choice to uplift someone else. As [00:12:00] we reflect on Roosevelt's life and the story behind. Teddy's bear. Let's remember that. Choosing kindness over convenience, mercy over might, and compassion over criticism is how joy takes root in our lives and in the lives of others. This is our prayer 

Cydni: from Cydni and Sher. can I just start over?

Yeah. Let dance they dance. Lemme dance. 

Sher: 50 wildlife refuges. Refuges, refuges, refuges, wanted one of, one of, wanted I'm so sorry. No, you're okay. Get it out. Get it out. All right, we go. Okay. 

Cydni: That was very, very good share. We did a very good job. Let's go get some [00:13:00] lunch and then we could be stuffed. Get it. 'cause like Soft Bear and Bear Barry very sounds the same. Have a good week. 

Sher: Bye.