This is not the finsh line...

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
I gave a copy of this poem to each of my 8th grade boys at the end of this year.
I didn't really plan enough time to talk about each line with them. However, it was nice to see some of them nod and agree as I read through it. On each copy I wrote their name, signed it at the bottom, and highlighted the word "Man". As some of them folded their copies gently and put them in their pockets "I couldn't help but wonder" how many of them would actually ensure that piece of paper didn't meet an untimely demise in the washing machine? Probably not many.

Personally, I have had two major moments in the last year (and a few in the last five) for which this poem has given me some clarity... this poem, friends, family, and God. These two moments deal in particular with some things said by some exceptionally ignorant people. People who took things I have said or done and used them against me. The first of the two hurt less because it was said by someone who did not know enough about me to know that what she was saying was laughable as it could not have been further from the truth. The second came from a source which surprised my family as strongly as it did myself.

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 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.

I guess that's life. We all have to do it.

Final thoughts: If I am to be a Christian I have to be better. I will be better.
Faith by Grace not by Works. --- ONE JUDGE.