Modern times, modern If —
“If — ” by Rudyard Kipling is one of my favourites. It is filled with depth and breadth that make sense even to this day. This was a school book poem that we were forced to read, memorize and repeat (for some reason) without really gathering what it meant. But I wish this were explained better, as we spent more time on the punctuation used, instead of the message. For eg: remembering the colon used at the end of first two stanzas instead of understanding what it means to treat success and failure the same.
I would have also liked the personal take my teacher had as I am sure she would have done this a numerous time. But sadly no. I personally feel there is a strong intersection of principles from the Bhagavad Gita, which I admire for its take on what is a decent life (like Khushwant Singh, Review of The Book of Prayer by Renuka Narayanan, 2001). So, here is the poem I have read many times in my life just in case you (my dear reader) want to revise on where the comma should be placed — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If%E2%80%94
It is a beautiful, succinct composition of words drilling through the thickness (of fat, skull and bs) a clear sharp message. I know I have read it on numerous occasions at different points in life, and yet each time there has been something that applied to what I was going through. Deep shit indeed. Paradoxically, every time I read it something has always been a nag about this poem. The nag has magnified over the two decades or so, since I was first exposed to it. Going back to my classroom, lets take a closer look - my teacher was a woman, half my classmates were girls (25–30 out of 65, counts almost half right?), half the world still is. At the time the poem was written, it chose to address only half the world, arbitrarily chosen. Sure, they can imagine understand what is said, but how and why would they even relate to this? Not to mention the people that don’t fall under this classification.
The nag is that this old (and misplaced ideology) precipitates into thinking and processes of today. This seems to be very prevalent in writing and thinking of old, that has not updated itself with newer and dare I say better principles. So, what else can I do but address it, with some minor edits.
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
to
If you can trust yourself when all doubt you,
Or walk with Kings — nor lose the common touch,
to
Or walk with the powerful— nor lose the common touch,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
to
If all count with you, but none too much;
And — which is more — you’ll be a Man, my son!
to
And — which is more — you’ll be an Adult, my child!
With those edits, may I take the liberty to share with you a revised version with those minor edits
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 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 more startup,
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 the powerful — nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all 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 an Adult, my child!
Nag addressed! (which I again daresay, be used in wherever “If — ” is referred, no copyrights) Feels like it catches up slightly on gross under-par-treatment of centuries, what say. And if this has already been done, you beat me to it, congrats and more power to you!
Words have a powerful sway over society. But most of writing is contextual. It is very easy to lose the context and pick on parts that are convenient. Hence the exercise to update the writing, as the core message hasn’t changed, but the context and application sure has.
Thanks for reading, and do tell me your thoughts on similar things that nag you.
P.S: Yup, I slipped in startups in there, that seems to be the biggest gambling problem to have these days :).
And — which is more — you’ll be an Adult, my child!
