The Lessons of If
Rudyard Kipling's If is timeless, it speaks to us today as it did a long time ago.
I love its candour and wisdom, with wit sprinkled amongst every line. Kipling's "If" forms a key part in the thoughts of the man in charge of stabilising Iraq at the moment, Gen. David H Petraeus. It holds lessons for effective counterinsurgency efforts, to ensure that the players of this game have calmness of mind, willpower and yet be adaptable to fluid circumstances that shift from goalpost to goalpost.
It's a battle of ideas as well as a battle of bullets. Keep your head up, and walk amongst the people you serve.
(Why this? Well, I was reading up on the syllabus for a module I'm doing next semester titled The Study of War.)
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!
I love its candour and wisdom, with wit sprinkled amongst every line. Kipling's "If" forms a key part in the thoughts of the man in charge of stabilising Iraq at the moment, Gen. David H Petraeus. It holds lessons for effective counterinsurgency efforts, to ensure that the players of this game have calmness of mind, willpower and yet be adaptable to fluid circumstances that shift from goalpost to goalpost.
It's a battle of ideas as well as a battle of bullets. Keep your head up, and walk amongst the people you serve.
(Why this? Well, I was reading up on the syllabus for a module I'm doing next semester titled The Study of War.)
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!