Living with Rudyard Kipling's Immortal "If" - Part One

Living with Rudyard Kipling’s Immortal “If” – Part One

Vividly, I recall my eighth grade English and Language Arts teacher assigning a poem, “If,” by Rudyard Kipling.  It is one of the first poems I understood without having to decode secretly embedded symbolism.  I recited “If” with oratorical and dramatic flair at a church talent show within weeks of my introduction.  These immortal words sustain me in my adult life.  In pledging my beloved fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., “If” would reemerge as our signature poem and collection of lessons of manliness.  In this column, I offer a few reflections upon salient lines in the poem.

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt but make allowance for their doubting too.  This line challenges the reader to cultivate skills necessary for success.  If you do not believe in yourself, other people will not.  People who achieve lofty goals usually possess inner gravitas and chutzpah to persevere when surrounded by a cacophony of criticism and unfavorable circumstances.  I admire Seattle Seahawks Head Coach, Pete Carroll, whose career exemplifies this attribute.  He paid his proverbial dues as an assistant coach in college programs and the NFL.  In the late 1990s, Carroll finally received his opportunity as a head coach when the New York Jets hired him.  Despite earning a winning season after a consistent decline in performance, the owner of the Jets chose to fire Carroll and hire Rich Kotite recently terminated Head Coach of the Philadelphia Eagles.  Dismissed inexplicably and unjustly, Carroll became the Defensive Coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers.  Within a few seasons, he became Head Coach of the New England Patriots where he would spend four seasons before being dismissed again.  During those years, many people loudly questioned Carroll’s ability to coach in the NFL.  He found inner resolve to trust his intuition.  Carroll earned a couple of playoff berths.  After the Patriots’ owner released him, Carroll sought haven in the collegiate football arena; he assumed the head coaching position at the University of Southern California.  Carroll’s tenure at USC witnessed a national championship.  Though commentators and fans characterized him in superlative terms, he experienced a feeling of incompletion.  After ascending the pinnacle of collegiate football coaching, Carroll returned to the NFL in his current position where he is poised to win a Super Bowl.  Pete Carroll’s determination to trust himself despite adversities creates his potential as one of a select few football coaches to win both a collegiate national championship and a Super Bowl title.

A man considers the doubts of other people though he does not allow them to limit his imagination.  He considers constructive criticism of other people as wise counsel.  Moreover, he seriously evaluates other people’s doubts to cultivate humility and avoid pitfalls of arrogance and “know-it-allism.”  It is reasonable that some truth and helpful advice exists in the doubts of others.  A man utilizes worthwhile feedback to grow personally and develop spiritually.

If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you.  Kipling admonishes his reader to develop self-discipline.  When my son was in grade school, I recited a daily mantra to him as I drove him to school.  “I am a leader and not a follower.  If I cannot lead myself, then I cannot lead anyone else.  I am leader and not a follower.”  Still, I urge him to foster self-direction and focus.  As a sophomore in high school, he is not a follower.  He possesses inner strength to separate from an adolescent pack of immaturity and senseless pranks.  Though some of his peers castigate him for choosing to defy the crowd’s swinish bliss of ignorance; my son listens to his better self. 

On a larger social scale, adult adherents to the world’s five major religions face formidable temptations as secular humanism distorts tenets of these faiths.  One Middle Eastern religion suffers as some adherents manipulate their faith to justify and shield terrorist acts.  Another world religion sanctions the actions of a Middle Eastern government; thereby preventing rational, impartial citizens of the global village from differentiating the two.  Yet another world religion succumbs to furthering manifest destiny, imperialism and excessive consumption of natural resources as an indication of divine favor.  The two other major faiths are susceptible to charges of indifference and inadequacy as they refuse to combat societal and systemic evils that impede individual rights.   Notwithstanding these incapacities which exist in any religious faith, genuine adherents struggle to define authenticity and principled pragmatism while chaos permeates global communities.  How do adherents maintain an intellectually respectable faith as the world spins in social, economic and geopolitical upheaval? 

Kipling asks his readers if they have the ability and willingness to maximize the divine gift of time.  If you can fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds of distance run?  How often do we think we do not have sufficient time to begin or conclude an activity?  As you wait ten or fifteen minutes, would you consider writing an essay, composing a piece of music, sketching a clothing design, offering intercessory prayers, answering email or returning a phone call? You have myriad daily opportunities to transform idle time into “sixty seconds worth of distance run.”  Many people fail to achieve goals because they never acquire time management.  Fortunately, multiple technological gadgets, smart phones, tablets and laptops enable us to apply Kipling’s sage advice.