"IF"

The Great Rudyard Kipling~
We all know him as the writer of "The Jungle Book".



When I was 7-8 years old, I had such a crush on Mowgli. I always envied the little Indian girl who got his attention at the end of the Disney animated version of Mr. Kipling's book.


(I also envied the fact that she could balance
a large water pot on her head...)






But then as I grew older (and hopefully wiser) I read a poem written by Rudyard Kipling that has become my favorite poem of all time. Words of wisdom such as this are so rare to find outside of the Bible, yet with so many Biblical truths in it.

I strive to be the person described in this tale of someone growing into adulthood.

At 31, I can see how far I have yet to go.

As I attempt to achieve the status of a mature adult, at the same time I hope I never "arrive" and that I continue to find ways to become better than yesterday.


The poem's title is simply "IF".

[IF]

~
If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you

But make allowance for their doubting too,

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or being hated, don't give way to hating,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,

If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breath a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;

If all men count with you, but none too much,

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,

And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!

--Rudyard Kipling

1 Corinthians 13:11When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

Queen Catherella

* the word "man" is used loosely in this blog to mean an adult regardless of gender