Energy, Atmosphere, and Personality

/ Kimberly

Most of us are influenced by our surroundings.

I recently visited Mission San Juan Bautista. It’s a beautiful mission—over 200 years old. There aren’t any pictures that do it justice. It looks strangely small in all the images I’ve seen but it’s huge inside. When you walk in, the atmosphere of the place just washes over you. It’s very strong and peaceful. I can’t think what to compare it to, except maybe a weighted blanket. And it remains with you. The Kimberly who walked in was not the same Kimberly who walked out.

Another example of this phenomenon is visiting a place where a significant event happened. In middle school, we went on a class trip to Washington DC. I don’t remember it very well except Ford’s Theatre where Lincoln was assassinated. It was such a catastrophic event, there are still vapors of it in the air.

Anyway those are extreme examples. Most places have a more subtle feeling or a vibration about them. Nevertheless we’re influenced by those feelings and they cause us to behave differently, depending on the way the place feels.

There are a few people out there who have such strong personalities that they are impervious to their surroundings. If anything, the force of their personality spills over into their environment. It seeps into the walls and the rug and infuses the air we breathe. Often it lingers long after they leave. Theodore Roosevelt was certainly one of this rare type of person.

His daughter Alice Roosevelt Longworth once said of him, “My father always wanted to be the corpse at every funeral, the bride at every wedding, and the baby at every christening.” It was probably an apt characterization—and one that probably applied to Alice as well!

Today I saw a funny little cartoon by Albert Levering that depicted William Taft, as he entered the White House for the first time as president in 1909. The room has clearly been not only decorated by TR but his spirit has also infused it. Levering named his drawing “The Teddyfication of the White House.”

LOC

TR was adventurous and brave, brilliant and optimistic. And he had a lot of sparkle. It would be hard for anyone to follow TR, who embodied the American spirit at the turn of the century. It was especially hard for Taft. He was a kind, even-tempered man but he was short on sparkle. I imagine this illustration was probably very close to the truth!

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10 thoughts on “Energy, Atmosphere, and Personality”

  1. I have been a long-time admirer of Teddy Roosevelt. Without ever expressing that admiration to my son, he too broached the subject of Teddy Roosevelt years ago, how unusual a President he was compared to the norm, especially in personality and talents. My son created a Teddy Roosevelt character for a project he produced after delving into Teddy’s biography. Then I came across Old Spirituals, Kimberly and her fondness for Teddy Roosevelt. I like to believe that great minds think alike. Teddy would probably agree with that conclusion. As Teddy might say, “Tally-Ho!!!!”

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  3. i visited Tombstone AZ expecting something like what you describe in ford’s theater. The spirits of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday weren’t there but the spirit of tourism was strong. The illustration is amazingly detailed! The painting over the fireplace with the romantic scene with two Teddys was so funny, i had to laugh!

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          • People know of “Notre Dame” only by that name. The University’s actual name is “The University of Notre Dame du Lac.” Founded in 1842 in the wilderness of Indiana, Father Edward Sorin arrived on the site with eight Holy Cross brothers from France and Ireland on November 26, 1842,. The land was purchased from the Potawatomi by the first Catholic priest in America, Stephen Badin. One of the original log cabins stands to this day on its campus. The French “du Lac,” meaning “of the lake,” was included because Father Sorin saw a frozen lake on the property in November 1842. Today, people will note there are two lakes. When spring melted the frozen land Father Sorin discovered there were really two lakes, as did the State’s surveyor.

            There are a myriad of anecdotes and legends about Notre Dame, too many to expound here. Suffice it to say, the spirits of those stories and legends permeate the campus and come to mind as one walks the campus. There are not fraternities or sororities at Notre Dame. The student Halls have students from all class years and function as a “fraternity” for the students residents. They are not co-ed halls.

            The Basilica on Notre Dame’s campus has Pre-World War II European-made stained glass. Most of that eras stained glass in Europe’s churches was destroyed during World War II. The edifice is outstanding and awe-inspiring.

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            • I love stained glass. For a while, I aspired to learn how to do it but got distracted by another project.
              This is the second time you’ve told us about a university whose real name I didn’t know (the first was Leland Stanford Junior University). Sounds like another post in the making from you! 😉

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