I have little patience for poets. More often than not, my attitude towards this admirable artistic medium runs more along the lines of, "Spit it out, already!" than, "Oh, what a beautiful metaphor!"
The same cannot be said of the poem "If" by Rudyard Kipling (of The Jungle Book fame).
Reading it, I felt transported to a different era. Published in 1895, the poem represents the author's advice to his son on what makes a man. It reminded me of the letter my mother wrote my 17-year-old self when I moved to Italy for my senior year abroad. Pages of advice, it emblazoned lessons from "This too shall pass" to "Don't smoke" into my solidifying brain.
I still have that letter, and we should all consider this Kipling poem as something similar--a letter from a faraway elder with lessons you'd be foolish to ignore.
Called "Britain's favorite poem" in the 20th century, you can almost feel the strength of Churchill coming through. When you're done reading it, go ahead and pin it to your wall! I'm considering hiring an artist to make it all pretty, then framing it in my son's room. Seriously. Here it goes:
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 on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe 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!
It feels like one of those poems whose lines come back to guide you in times of need, whether it's to "keep your head when all about you are losing theirs, and blaming it on you," or to force your heart and nerve and sinew to serve long after they are gone, so hold on when there is nothing in you except the Will which says, 'Hold on!' (No quotation marks on that last one since I abbreviated a bit).
Even the last stanza, encouraging you to "fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds' worth of distance run"... It's all just wonderful advice in times banal or baneful, triumphant or tragic.
You know how they say "Strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times"?
I know our grandparents were strong, and I know we grew up in good times. Now I'm hoping we can subvert the end of that aphorism by creating a strong generation despite the good times we live in! However, that isn't going to happen if we don't provide anything substantive on which to build that strength.
The beginning of that phrase is actually "Hard times create strong men." But is it possible to raise a good, strong generation without hard times?
I certainly hope so. But it won't happen if we also deprive that generation of intelligence and wisdom. You can be born naturally tall, naturally short, or a natural red-head...But you cannot be born a natural knower-of-history. You must learn the effects of innumerable "causes" so you know which to avoid and which to pursue.
I'd rather not see my grandchildren endure hard times created by weak men, which is why I'm doing everything I can to strengthen you intellectually. Read books! REAL ones! Historical ones!
You can start with my annotated classics. I'm adding more as fast as I can, and The Iliad is up next. Feel free to pre-order it here.
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