Both of my sons will have birthdays this coming week. It is hard to believe that they have grown up so fast - but grow up they have! In my eyes at least, these two little boys, whom God chose to entrust to my wife and me, have, in so many respects, now become men.
I thought I would devote today’s blog to both of them. It is a famous poem titled “If”, which was written way back in 1895 by renowned Jungle Book author and Nobel Laureate, Rudyard Kipling. Along with such poems as "Invictus" by William Ernest Henley and “Desiderata” by Max Ehrmann, Kipling’s work speaks volumes about what it means to come of age and be a man in the midst of a troubled world.
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 imposters 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!*
Happy birthday, men!
I love you both, Dad
*SOURCE: http://www.everypoet.com/archive/poetry/Rudyard
_Kipling/kipling_if.htm
I thought I would devote today’s blog to both of them. It is a famous poem titled “If”, which was written way back in 1895 by renowned Jungle Book author and Nobel Laureate, Rudyard Kipling. Along with such poems as "Invictus" by William Ernest Henley and “Desiderata” by Max Ehrmann, Kipling’s work speaks volumes about what it means to come of age and be a man in the midst of a troubled world.
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 imposters 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!*
Happy birthday, men!
I love you both, Dad
*SOURCE: http://www.everypoet.com/archive/poetry/Rudyard
_Kipling/kipling_if.htm