If by Rudyard Kipling

The poem is about how we should live our life. The poem is intended to be a
message to his son but it becomes an inspiration to men. The theme of the poem is
the one that caught my attention because first, my life do not have a purpose, my
life is empty, and I do not even know what course to take in college. Second, I
have this mentality of thinking that life is all about being successful, which is good
in my opinion because in my 16 years of existence my parents always tells me that
I need to study hard so that you will be successful and can do what you want to do.
Third, I noticed that all the condition that was mentioned by the author are the
opposite of me, which made me think that I need to change my way of life, my
thinking towards life, and live a good life. The theme is how to be a complete man,
how to be a good human being, and be successful in life in a given conditions by
the author.

The first stanza: We should always be calm, have faith in ourselves, be

patient, and be truthful at all times even though people will talk negatively about
us. Lastly, we should never think that we are above someone else even though we
have these mentioned qualities. I am an impatient person, nervous person, and I
would admit that I lie most of the time. For example, I want a job that has already
high salary without studying for more years and also, when I have a problem I tend
to become nervous and eventually think negatively. After realizing that I have this
problem of being impatient, no faith, and untruthful, I saw these lines in the first
stanza that I think will help me to these problems: “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”, and
“Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies”.

The second stanza: It is fine to dream big but make sure it is in your reach or
be realistic if not it will just be a dream and do not let your dream control your life.
If you have an idea and it is for your betterment put them into an action. In life we
would face success and failure, happiness and sadness, good times and bad times
and we should accept them and learn from them and always remember do not be
too happy if you experience a portion of success, because you might lose track on
your dreams and do not be sad if you face failure, because you might lose your
calmness, faith, patience, and truthfulness. It is okay to commit mistakes as long as
you learn from them and build yourself again with improvements. I am the type of
person who gives up easily even though I did not yet really put my best in it. If I
knew that something is hard to achieve I would like to give up on it without further
experiencing it and understanding it. For example, my father wants me to become a
lawyer and just a quick background, when I was young my dream was to become a
lawyer too but when I saw my sister reading a lot of books and staying all night to
read, I gave up on becoming a lawyer and I do not now want to become one and
also, I am a fan of the word “bahala na” in most of the activities that I do especially
if it includes drawing. The line “Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools”, gave me an enlightenment of
removing the hobbit of “bahala na” and giving up easily.

The third stanza: do not be afraid to take big risk because this is a must or a
step to become successful or to achieve your dreams, if you lose everything, all
your possessions in the process of taking risk, just be calm and start all over again.
When you are tired, when your body feels like it cannot continue anymore, and
feels like you just want to rest, use the power of your will to keep going on, to tell
your body to continue, and to hold on. I have this hobby of just staying of my
comfort zone and not trying new things. For example, I knew that if I become a
lawyer I will have less sleep, I will have lesser free time because you need to study
hard, and I would force to read a lot. This poem is about how to be successful and
to have a good life, of course I want to achieve that. “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”, in my own
opinion this quote or this line can help me to my problem of me staying in my
comfort zone and not exploring the world or trying new things.

The fourth stanza: you need to have a good relationship with everyone
(lower class, middle class, higher class) but you should have enough mentality and
physically so that no one will influence your belief in what is right and wrong and
you should know yourself and your belief well enough so that your friends or your
enemies will not hurt you or criticize you. People will depend on you but do not let
them become too dependent on you because not every time you are with them. You
need to live your life to the fullest and productive, do not waste a single minute
because time is gold and you cannot go back to the time that you wasted. If you
complete all of the conditions then the world might become yours, you will
successful, and you will have a good life. I do not have the sense of time or I do
not manage my time well. I mostly prioritize first playing or doing what I want
than what I must do like requirements in school, thus I experience the consequence
of it. I admit that I do not value time maybe because I am young and thinking that I
must enjoy life first, but it is not an excuse for me to waste that so much time
knowing that it could affect my future.