"If"

[MomWithOCDSon]

My DS13 had a language arts homework assignment today based on the Rudyard Kipling poem, "If." Basically, he had to pick out a couple of lines of the poem that he could relate to, and write about why he finds them relevant. I was reading the poem out loud to him, and couldn't help but cry, so I thought I'd share it with you.

 

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 triump 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 wornout 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 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!

 

Though it's rare for me, today this left me speechless.

[Worried_Dad]

That's awesome! Mr. Kipling sets the bar awfully high. I know I don't meet those criteria by a long shot... but striving and aiming high are a good thing, for young men and us old guys, eh?

 

Thanks for taking the time to type all that in, Nancy!

[Megs_Mom]

Well, I am completely weepy today anyway, but wow. I did not know this poem - and how amazingly applicable to parents & kids with PANDAS. I would be hard pressed to choose between these lines:

 

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,

 

Thanks for posting this!

[LNN]

Well, I am completely weepy today anyway, but wow. I did not know this poem - and how amazingly applicable to parents & kids with PANDAS. I would be hard pressed to choose between these lines:

 

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,

 

Thanks for posting this!

 

That's So funny! I read these lines and immediately thought of you!

My favorite lines are:

 

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";

 

Guess that's a reflection of where we both are right now.

 

Thanks for sharing, Nancy. This one's a keeper.