петък, януари 5

 

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 wornout 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 1909
Comments:
That's one of my favourite poems.

As for Saddam -

I am against capital punishment no matter who or what the circumstances and I am hoping that people will see it for what it is - killing (murder by the masses ) and killing is wrong. People object to killing and to murders but as a group they feel they have to right to make a decision to kill and to carry it out. I don't understand it - I try but I can't.
 
The verdict against Saddam gave the clearest opportunity possible for opponents of the death penalty to speak out against this barbaric form of punishment. If you can argue against it in his case you can do it in all cases.

I notice that Prescott and Brown spoke against the particular circumstances of Saddam's execution, without necessarily condeming the death penalty itself. Blair and Beckett seem to have failed even this test.

Once I noticed that the first line of Kipling's poem had a curious resonance with Saddam's hanging, I couldn't get it out of my head. I think I came to realise that even Saddam Hussein could have personal qualities which stand out, whilst still being a thoroughly despicable person.

The Colosseum in Rome is illuminated as part of an Italian campaign to highlight whenever a death sentence is commuted or a country abolishes the death penalty around the world.
 
People claim that capital punishment is concerned with justice but it has nothing to do justice or punishment. It is to do with revenge. The vicious murdering circle of revenge. You cannot kill and then claim that this shows that killing is evil and will not be tolerated - it doesn't work does it?
 
Nice poem!

and kat: I couldn't agree with you more.

To kill someone for being responsible for killing others seems ridiculous.

Granted - I do believe that evil people have to be punished, but there are other ways.
 
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're a liar.
 
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