Choosing how to live life
As we close out this year, take a fresh look at Rudyard Kipling’s famous poem in the context of today’s world and imagine how we might all live in it.
The English novelist, poet, and journalist Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay in 1865, during the British colonial rule of India. He is widely known for The Jungle Book, and other classic children’s books, the poems Mandalay and Gunga Din, and the short story The Man Who Would be King.
In 1910, Kipling published his famous poem titled If –, which advised his son John how to live life: with self-discipline and stoicism, conducting himself with morality, and aiming to become a better person – a “true man.” The poem addresses traits good leaders should possess, teaches how to deal with different situations, and inspires them to improve and excel.
The poem received worldwide attention. In India, a framed copy of the poem was placed in officer cadet rooms at India’s National Defence Academy at Khadakwasla in Pune. In a 2001 review of Renuka Narayanan’s The Book of Prayer, Indian author and journalist Khushwant Singh said that Kipling’s poem If – represented the essence of the Bhagavad Gita’s message.
As next year approaches
As this year’s end rapidly approaches and we look with uncertainty and apprehension towards the next, I share Kipling’s poem with you and ask you to read it in the context of today’s world. Reflect on it. It has a message for each of us to take to heart, and advice to follow as we interact with one another:
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 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!
More than a century has passed since Kipling’s poem was published. Its power to uplift and inspire has not diminished. Courage, humility, and perseverance are timeless qualities we should aspire to own. Live with restraint and moderation. Keep your wits about you; maintain your composure, keep your dignity. Don’t overreact. Be confident but not in vain. Don’t dwell on your hardships; accept them. Don’t become a servant of your ambitions. Take a measured approach to your successes and failures. Maintain your balance. Stay determined. Don’t let others hurt your feelings. Treat everyone with respect. Don’t lose your moral compass.
Would the world become a better place if we all began to live by this code of conduct?