IF -- JONATHAN'S FAVORITE POEM

I've posted this before, but in honor of Jonathan's high school graduation, I wanted to re-post, because it's just that good! :)  This is one of the many poems he memorized during his homeschooling days, and it really touched him and made him think about the kind of man he wanted to be.

I am so very thankful for Jonathan being in our lives and family, and I am so very proud of the man he is turning out to be. I love him!  It will be difficult to see this little bird fly our nest, for sure.

"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

MY MOTHER SAYS

 

 

My mother says she doesn't care
About the color of my hair,
Or if my eyes are blue or brown,
Or if my nose turns up or down.
My mother says these things don't matter.

My mother says she doesn't care
If I'm dark or if I'm fair,
If I'm thin or if I'm fat.
She doesn't fret o'er things like that.
My mother says these things don't matter.

But if I cheat or tell a lie,
Or do mean things to make folks cry,
Or if I'm rude or impolite,

And do not try to do what's right...
My mother says that these things matter.

It isn't looks that makes us great;
It's character that seals our fate.
It's what's within our hearts, you see,
That makes or mars our destiny.

And that's what really matters.



Author Unknown

OUR BABY BOY IS GRADUATING EARLY FROM HIGH SCHOOL! - A BITTER/SWEET MOMENT, BUT SO PROUD OF HIM!

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