Whenever the world or my little corner of it gets out of balance – whacky and crazy – I think of the poem “If” by Rudyard Kipling.
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!
This poem was written in 1895. And like our era, it was rippled through with upheaval – bookended by both men and women grappling with change and conflict. Perhaps that is what prompted Kipling to write it. There was:
- The rise of the Industrial Revolution that brought about labor strikes and social unrest
- The Dreyfus affair – centering around a Jewish army officer wrongly convicted – igniting once again the fires of anti-Semitism in Europe
- The expansion of electric lighting into urban areas – having a huge impact on lifestyle and quality of life
- Escalating tensions between the US and Spain over Cuba setting the stage for the Spanish American war
Rudyard Kipling’s poem “If” speaks to me:
- It reminds me of the importance of remaining resilient, of being true to my values and of continuing to practice self-discipline
- It reminds me to seek and maintain balance in life between such things as humility and ambition and of giving to others while being mindful of tending to my own needs and desires
- It reminds me to stand firm in my beliefs, even when faced with setbacks
- And it reminds me to maintain my composure amidst chaos (and not be the initiator of chaos either – Hee Hee!)
It’s rather enlightening that the poem “If” speaks to what we should aspire to be, but doesn’t really tell us how to get there. Maybe we can explore that together in 2026.
Happy New Year and Keep Preserving Your Bloom,