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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 of waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal with 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 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 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!
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If
by Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)
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I guess I should have taken license to change the last line to
"you'll be a Mason, my son!", but hey, I'm not a Mason ... I'm still
trying to be a Man.
BTW, R. Kipling's "if" would make a good addition to the poems in your FAQ.
I didn't find it there last time I looked.
All the best.
--
George J. Khairallah
gjk@panix.com
That's a great thought and a wonderful creed to live by. I can see why Mr.
Khairallah decided it was worthwhile enough to pass along. Perhaps, I can
shed some light on the originating author.
There's an old joke that is from my Grandfather's time:
Said the young man to the young lady,” Do you enjoy Kipling, my dear?"
She replies, "I don't know, I've never kippled before."
Although current literary opinion considers Kipling as passé, there was a
time when hundreds of "Kipling Clubs" met to read and discuss his writings
without belittling his glorification of British Imperialism.
The man knew how to tell a story, though his poetry was not nearly as
inspired or well developed. "Gunga Din", "Mandalay", and "Danny Deever"
are familiar to millions who probably don't realize that Kipling wrote
them.
It may surprise you that he was not born in England, but Bombay India
instead 12-30-1865. His father, John L. Kipling was an artist and was
able to send his young son to England for his education. He received his
learning at United Services College at Westward Ho, North Devon. By 1880,
he returned to Lahore, India where he began writing as a sub-editor for
"The Civil and Military Gazette". He was just seventeen.
In 1892, he married an American, Caroline Starr Batestier with whom he
became acquainted with notable American authors of the day. He received an
honorary degree from Oxford University in 1907 along with one of these
contemporaries, Mark Twain. During the same year he was granted the Nobel
prize for literature, the first "British" writer to do so.
Rudyard Kipling was also a Mason, a very devoted and active Mason indeed.
His writing contain many allusions and references to the Masonic exper-
ience. He was made a Mason at Hope and Perseverance Lodge #782 at Lahore
Punjab, India. It was an English Constitution Lodge. His work required
special dispensation, because he was only twenty-years/six months at the
time. The same evening that he was raised, he was elected Secretary of
his Lodge so that he recorded his own initiation in the minutes of his
Blue Lodge.
A few months later, he delivered a lecture to his brethren "On the Origins
of Masonry and the First Degree in Particular."
He became a Mark Master in Mark Lodge "Fidelity"on 4-12-1887 and received
his Mark Mariners degree in Lodge "Mt. Ararat"at Lahore on 4-17-1888. He
also affiliated with Philanthropy Lodge #391 at Allahabad, Bengal. There
were never restrictions on dual or plural membership in English Constitu-
tion lodges.
When he returned to his beloved England, he further affiliated with
"Mother Lodge #3861"in London as well as two others, "Author's lodge
#3456" and "Lodge Builders Lodge of the Silent Cities #4948." In 1905,
Canongate-Kilwinning Lodge #2, Edinburgh, Scotland chose him as poet-
laureate as a previous Brother, "Robbie Burns"had the pleasure.
In 1925, he wrote in the London "Freemason",
"I was Secretary for some years of Hope and Perseverance Lodge #782,
E.C. Lahore which included Brethren of at least four creeds. I was
entered by a member of Bramo Somaj, a Hindu; passed by a Mohammedan,
and raised by an Englishman. Our Tyler was an Indian Jew. We met, of
course, on the level, and the only difference anyone would notice was
that at our banquets, some of the Brethren, who were debarred by caste
from eating food not ceremonially prepared, sat over empty plates."
Now of course I know that Masons today are, for the most part, devout
individuals, but I have never seen them abstain from a meal with their
brothers.
To the natives of Lahore, the Lodge was known as a "house of magic."
They believed that nothing but magic could bring together so many men of
different classes and castes, and so many men of different religions.
Of Masonry, there is much in Kipling's writings. He deserves to be read
by more within the Craft. For starters try "The Man who Would be King."
If you haven't the time to read it, at least rent the movie. Rudyard
Kipling knew how to tell the story, Sean Connery's not bad in the role
either(or at least my wife thinks so!).
for more information, pick up the Short Talk Bulletin Vol. XLII, October
1964 #10 from the Masonic Service Association, 700-10th Street N.W.
Washington D.C.
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