"if"................

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This is my favourite poem by Kipling, ever! I love the whole lesson within, the many roads to walk before one becomes a "man". "If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two imposters just the same" These are my favourite lines in the piece, is he telling us to keep a straight face in times of joy, and sorrow? Or does he caution that they are not "real" feelings, considering that they are labelled "imposters"? "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" Having the guts to take chances, and if it goes wrong, the strength to accept and learn from those mishaps without complaint... he paints a very humane picture, one that I find I can relate to very well, as these are the virtues I wish to call my own. However, I find that the best lines of the poem itself, not my favourite lines, but the most important points, are to be found at the end; "If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds' worth of distance run" If we can make the most of every moment of this life, even in the hard times as well as the good, with what we call our best, then the Earth is ours, for we have earned our place... and if we can live up to all the stipulations. .. we'll be a man. here it goes.... 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 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! So long.... :)