As I was driving to Starbucks this morning, I was listening to NPR as I often do. Garrison Keillor does this short piece called Writer’s Almanac and reads a piece of poetry. This morning’s poem was very familiar — if you have graduated from high school or college, chances are you have received a card with this poem on it. It is called “If” by Rudyard Kipling. I had to memorize this poem in high school English class at one point and as Garrison read it, I found myself reciting it along with him. It’s become a Hallmark cliché in some aspects, but I don’t think that diminishes the truth of it.
If — 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!
A Choice of Kipling’s Verse (1943)
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/175772
That’s a pretty powerful poem, when you really take it all apart. It’s about character. It’s about having the fruit of the spirit — common sense, patience, truth, hope, self control, perseverance, virtue, honesty and humility — and the rewards that come from living such a life. The person who does these things, Kipling says, will be a true man. It’s a mark of manhood to be able to push through when you think there is no way to continue. It takes character to stand when someone has twisted your words into saying something you never did. Manhood is picking up the broken pieces of something you worked a long time at and rebuild it. This is about servanthood — where sometimes you feel like there is nothing left and you are still there because the will inside of you says, “No, don’t give up, you are not done yet.” Character is when you can stand in front of crowds or cameras and bend the ears of powerful and influential folks yet remain humble and grounded.
All of this is what The Lord is working in us — character. We learn it by dealing with the stuff of life. The daily challenges that ask us the question that Apostle Paul answered so well: How then shall we live? His advice — “See that you walk carefully! Not as fools but as wise. Use your time wisely and make the most of every opportunity for the days ahead are evil.” The character that is being worked in us through some of these situations is exactly what causes us to become men and women of maturity, stability, and humility. It’s like that movie, Evan Almighty, when “God” says, “Let me ask you something. If someone prays for patience, you think God gives them patience? Or does he give them the opportunity to be patient? If he prayed for courage, does God give him courage, or does he give him opportunities to be courageous? If someone prayed for the family to be closer, do you think God zaps them with warm fuzzy feelings, or does he give them opportunities to love each other?” It’s a valid point — James said it in the first chapter when he stated that when we are in the midst of trials, consider it joy because those trial are working patience in us! In other words, your character is being developed. Is any of this easy? No way! Like the poem says, if you are lied about or hated and still maintain your identity and have the ability to walk on despite that, that is character development right there. Because everything in us wants to respond back. This is what is meant by giving up our rights — the right to be heard, the right to have the last word, the right to be right, the right to an opinion. When we learn this, we learn humility and meekness.
“Meekness is not weakness; it is power under control. As the writer of Proverbs says, “He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit, than he who captures a city” (16:32). In contrast, the individual who is not gentle is likened to “a city that is broken into and without walls” (Proverbs 25:28)…. And don’t equate gentleness with cowardice, lack of conviction, or mere human niceness. It’s a virtue that draws courage, strength, conviction, and a good disposition from God, not from self-centered human resources” (John MacArthur).
If… I choose to live like this, I will become a man of character. If I choose to reject the impulses to strike back when I am lied about or hated or to victimize myself when I lose it all because of a bad risk taken; when I am thrust into the spotlight and remain humble; when I keep my common sense when everyone around me has lost theirs; then I am well on my way to developing true character and becoming like Christ — a man of meekness. This is the Sermon on the Mount at it’s core because all of this is the Constitution of the Kingdom. How then shall I live? I think my path is clear!
Smack-dab what I was looking for-ty!
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Dear Tshung Chuan:Of course, you can share this article with your friends.The idea of 1% is to tell people that we all can culitvate a new habit by taking tiny baby steps. We do all these good deeds in order to get to know ourselves. This is motivated by self interest. We don’t do this 1% behavior change for the sake of noble cause. We do it because we want to do it. We are only accountable for our own behavior, not even to society expectation.Let’s start this 1% movement.Ping
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Interesting note to this. I tried finding any contact e-mail with respect to privacy and user account information for Facebook on the company’s website. All I’ve been able to come up with is a physical address and that’s even buried quite deep. Facebook does have the option of downloading your account information under your account settings, but it’s not as detailed as what you have describe in your templates. Any advice? Should I contact the company directly through written correspondence?
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: tout ce que je peux te dire c’est qu’ il n’arrive pas à la cheville du microfoliant, il peut aller se r’habiller le pshitt magique! lol mais à essayer juste pour la sensation de mousse qui dissout les cellules mortes…mais tu as raison c’est un gadget de feignante (comme moi) )
I came, I read this article, I conquered.
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At last, someone who comes to the heart of it all
Heckuva good job. I sure appreciate it.
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It’s a joy to find someone who can think like that
I want to build a dining room table. I was lokonig at some pieces of wood out in the east coast. The pieces were 26-40 inches wide and 7-12 feet in length. What is the best method to cut it. I want to make it around 44 wide and 12 feet long fully extended and 7 feet closed. I need to find a good book about the best way to pick out wood and glue them up for the top. Thanks.
Good point. I hadn’t thought about it quite that way. 🙂
Hallo!Schön dass das Forum so schnell online gegangen ist!Golden Carriage (chin. Jin Yu 金輿) wird anhand der TD mit den Ez berechnet:+H -H +F -F +E -E +M -M +W -WE+ F- E2- M+ E2- M+ E2+ W- E- H+Über die Bedeutung habe ich nichts gefunden.
That’s an astute answer to a tricky question
I was wondering if you ever considered changing the page layout of your site? Its very well written; I love what youve got to say. But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect with it better. Youve got an awful lot of text for only having 1 or two images. Maybe you could space it out better?
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At last! Someone with real expertise gives us the answer. Thanks!
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I literally jumped out of my chair and danced after reading this!
A nice review indeed that has prompted me to try Mint (in fact, I’m typing this out of the Live version of Mint).My main concern was the MintMenu which I found just too big, but after toying with it a couple of minutes I think I’m becoming rather fond of it But the one thing that might make me change from Karmik to Mint is Flash: it works!! At last I can close tabs in Firefox without fear of crashing flash on all other tabs!! (The RAM footprint also seems smaller than in Karmik)So thanks a lot for the review: you might have won another Mint user (Will probably wait for Mint 9 first, though)