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The If Project takes the text of Rudyard Kipling’s poem “If” and breaks it down into digestible chunks of wisdom. Each week, we’ll take a few lines of the poem and focus on the life lessons and behaviors Kipling puts forth as empowering.
This is a mindfulness practice, which will help you consciously build better behavioral habits pertaining to interpersonal interactions and other areas of your life.
For reference, the entire poem is included at the bottom of this post.
The lines for week three are:
“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…”
These lines urge us to be patient, honest, tolerant, and humble—all admirable ways to live. But no one is perfect, and there are times we all fall short of these noble behaviors. However, the point is not to try to be perfect, which is an impossible goal. Those who strive for perfection inevitably become disillusioned.
Rather, it’s the striving to be a better human being that’s the point. What’s important is to be willing to change for the better, the willingness to be mindful about your behavior. Perseverance is part of the hero’s mindset.
You can never achieve the behaviors Kipling outlines in this poem 24 hours a day. We all succumb to thoughts and actions that we regret. But the heroic mindset teaches us that the striving toward service to others is a never-ending and noble pursuit.
Please be sure to leave comments to share your experiences during this “applied humanities” project, and tell others about this series!
Remember: this series is part of my effort to spread the word about applied humanities, which involves the active use of literature and other art forms to practically and positively influence everyday behavior. Ultimately, the humanities can be consumed passively or actively, but either way, they can remind us what it means to be human, as well as everyday heroes.
For reference, here’s the entire poem:
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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 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 turn of pitch-and-toss,
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 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!
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A version of this article was originally published at livethehero.com
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What’s your take on what you just read? Comment below or write a response and submit to us your own point of view or reaction here at the red box, below, which links to our submissions portal.
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