'If' You Were Wondering

Rudyard Kipling's poem still teaches a valuable lesson in the 21st Century

Bob Evans ast week, as part of a column discussing the need for businesses to make renewed commitments to their people during these times of rampant uncertainty and uneasiness, I asked for your help in recalling the exact words of a quote I couldn't quite remember but that seemed ideal for that discussion. I tossed out my best recollection of the saying, and while I got a key word absolutely wrong (it should have been "heads" but I mistakenly wrote "wits"), I was hopeful that someone with lots of patience and perhaps a touch of pity would be able to put the puzzle together and pass along the accurate quote, along with the name of its author/originator.

Now, I've had the great privilege of being able to chat in this forum with all of you for almost five years. Over that time, I've had the additional privilege of receiving a great deal of feedback and commentary from many of you. That feedback has taken the form of ideas, suggestions, corrections, venting, and the occasional insult (one favorite: In response not to something I wrote but rather to the photo that used to accompany this column, a reader said, "Your photo looks like Larry Ellison, and I don't like Larry Ellison, so I never read your column, so why don't you stop writing it?" I'm not saying he was giving bad advice, but like the situation in Florida, I feel the need to try to count all the votes and surrender to the will of the people and all that). So from the thousands of exchanges I've been so fortunate to have with this extraordinary group of people, I was confident someone would sweep away my ignorance.

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 all 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!
--Rudyard Kipling

Silly me. That ignorance was dispelled by not one but, rather, by more than 500 different readers who replied, some with the lines for which I was searching, many others with the entire poem from which those lines were taken, some with recollections of when they first committed the whole poem to memory, and a few with interesting variations. From Rudyard Kipling's poem "If", which is printed in its entirety to the right of this page, the lines are, "If you can keep your head when all about you/Are losing theirs and blaming it on youý." (One wag said, "This is probably not what you are looking for, but I couldn't resist: 'If you can keep your head while those about you are losing theirs/You may be a guillotine operator.'" Thank you, Michael L. Horne!) Many readers were kind enough to send in URLs linking to the poem, including http://www.swarthmore.edu/~apreset1/docs/if.html (thank you, Dave Boyle).

Such an outpouring of erudition, and from so many! It made me wonder--but only for a fleeting moment--if the huge response rate was influenced by the promise of an InformationWeek coffee mug or key chain to the first person sending in the correct answer (and yes, I said something about a motorcycle, but such prizes are banned by federal law in years when the presidential election goes undecided for more than a month). And since so many people replied so quickly and graciously, we're giving prizes to the first 40 respondents.

This extraordinary poem and its transcendent themes are indeed sage advice for these uncertain times. And in closing, I want to offer three things: First, some comments on the poem from readers; second, another bit of wisdom from another philosopher I'll ask you to identify; and third, my sincere thanks to the several hundred readers who replied. But here are some of your thoughts on "If": From J. Vincent: "This is a favorite of mine because my grandmother gave me a copy when I was graduated from high school." From Janet Woods: "I'm quite sure I'm not first with this, but it was fun to know it--and almost be able to recite it by heart!" From Joe Daniels: "It sits on my desk facing me." From John Reilly: "A timeless poem, which provides some powerful words to live by." Indeed.

And now request No. 2: Who said, "Age is a case of mind over matter: If you don't mind, it don't matter." The first person to send in the name of the originator of this wisdom gets an InformationWeek goody, which will be a motorcycle if Ralph Nader is elected president.

BOB EVANS
Editor-in-Chief
bevans@cmp.com