tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7556050465385247470.post2778287178840330128..comments2023-12-31T09:40:12.648-08:00Comments on Bob Hoover's Blog: Rudyard KiplingBob Hooverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15861126799745704555noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7556050465385247470.post-16656185336391763312008-07-15T18:09:00.000-07:002008-07-15T18:09:00.000-07:00Would you believe that Kipling helped me through b...Would you believe that Kipling helped me through boot camp (many years ago)?<BR/><BR/>OK...well, would you believe that I never understood a particular Kipling poem UNTIL I went through boot camp?<BR/><BR/>Either way....It's called "The 'Eathen" and I won't quote it all, but one stanza and a refrain:<BR/><BR/>The young recruit is silly -- 'e thinks o' suicide.<BR/>'E's lost 'is gutter-devil; 'e 'asn't got 'is pride;<BR/>But day by day they kicks 'im, which 'elps 'im on a bit,<BR/>Till 'e finds 'isself one mornin' with a full an' proper kit.<BR/><BR/> Gettin' clear o' dirtiness, gettin' done with mess,<BR/> Gettin' shut o' doin' things rather-more-or-less;<BR/> Not so fond of abby-nay, kul, nor hazar-ho,<BR/> Learns to keep 'is ripe an "isself jus'so!<BR/><BR/>Anyway....the obvious bit about getting over the hump helped along the way, but the bit about one morning finding "a full an' proper kit." Never made sense to me until 7 not-so-wonderful weeks into a Navy boot camp "experience" I realized that somewhere along the way, I had learned what I needed to.<BR/><BR/>Anyway, Kipling has had a warm place in my heart since, and I've spent the rest of my life trying to keep from doing things "rather more-or-less."<BR/><BR/>--ToddAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7556050465385247470.post-67655645955121968012008-05-14T20:44:00.000-07:002008-05-14T20:44:00.000-07:00Kipling helped me keep my head two years ago -- I ...Kipling helped me keep my head two years ago -- I was laid off from work after 18 years of service, two years short of a pension. "Thanks, and goodbye. Oh, but we'll write you a check for 6 month's salary if you'll train your replacement who is flying here from India next week." I was ready to let 'em have it, but thought back about a poem I learned in high school. (do they even require memorization these days?) The poem is "If" by Rudyard Kipling:<BR/><BR/><I><BR/>If you can keep your head when all about you<BR/>Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,<BR/>If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you<BR/>But make allowance for their doubting too,<BR/>If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,<BR/>Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,<BR/>Or being hated, don't give way to hating,<BR/>And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:<BR/>If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,<BR/>If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;<BR/>If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster<BR/>And treat those two impostors just the same;<BR/>If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken<BR/>Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,<BR/>Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,<BR/>And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:<BR/><BR/>If you can make one heap of all your winnings<BR/>And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,<BR/>And lose, and start again at your beginnings<BR/>And never breath a word about your loss;<BR/>If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew<BR/>To serve your turn long after they are gone,<BR/>And so hold on when there is nothing in you<BR/>Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"<BR/><BR/>If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,<BR/>Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,<BR/>If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;<BR/>If all men count with you, but none too much,<BR/>If you can fill the unforgiving minute<BR/>With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,<BR/>Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,<BR/>And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!<BR/></I><BR/><BR/>It wasn't easy, but I turned that angry energy around and to make a long story short, I'm working at a new shop now, having more fun than ever before. The layoff was a blessing in disguise. <BR/>--JackAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7556050465385247470.post-48190169321416217912008-05-13T19:52:00.000-07:002008-05-13T19:52:00.000-07:00Lovely.Lovely.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com