(Rudyard Kipling’s
“ IF ” contemplates worldwide conflict)
After your nation can keep its head, when most other countries
in our world are losing theirs, and blaming it on you, and yours,
After your citizens get
liberty, without taking anybody else’s;
After your nation can be free, and not take
freedom for granted,
After your nation can give
justice, as well as it accepts it;
After your nation is being hated, and refuses to hate right back,
And yet refrains from strutting its stuff, or trash talking
After your country can
worship-and not be ruled by worshippers,
After your leaders can tax enough - and then
not waste those taxes,
After your citizens can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two unreal conditions the same way,
After your people can watch the truth they’ve lived and spoken,
Get twisted by professional spinners to make a fool’s trap,
Or watch the things their lives have been sacrificed for, broken,
And then stoop and build ‘em back up, on their own time
After your country can make a pile of all they’ve accomplished,
Risk it all on one move of the market, lose, and start over again,
And remember to
quit bitching at their unlucky losing,
After your citizens can force their heart and nerve and sinew
To do their duty, whilst all their heart, nerve, and sinew burst,
And then continue to fight to hold on, despite losing all hope,
Except their
Stubbornness, which screams: “
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