Modern Manhood

[SuburbanFarmer]

Since about 90% of us are men on this forum, I'm just making a place to share thoughts on what it means to be a First-World Man in the 21st Century.


Was listening to an episode of Jocko ( http://jockopodcast.proboards.com/threa ... ing?page=1), and felt inspired to share this.

If—


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!

- Rudyard Kipling

http://www.kiplingsociety.co.uk/poems_if.htm

[TheReal_ND]

[Martin Hash]

Damn, I haven't heard those poems since I was a kid. I don't remember what my reaction was then but certainly it couldn't be with the understanding I have now.

One of the disappointing things about wisdom is that the more you get, the less optimism you have. I've always prided myself on my ability to maintain a high level of naïve optimism even as an oldster, which is down some since I was young & foolish.

Here's a personal observation that probably doesn't apply to anyone else so take my word for it: I thought after each major life achievement, climbing the mountain is an apt metaphor, I would be high above the valley and be able to look down and make sense of life. In actuality, every time I got to the top, while I could finally explain what was going on below me, I could also see higher mountains in the distance, so I pursued those mountains. Repeat. Eventually, it seemed unlikely I would ever get to the top of the mountains BUT I DID; from where I am now, I don't see any higher mountains. There are lots of valleys below that are dark and impenetrable but nothing seems unexplainable, even life itself. Unfortunately, this understanding, this enlightenment so to speak, has sapped my optimism because my myths and delusions have been undermined. I wanted there to be order but there is only chaos.

Now I'm hoping the clouds above me conceal another higher mountain, and I can climb that one, which means there's at least a wee bit of optimism that remains.