PoemReview: "If" by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep you 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 imposters 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:
...
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And-which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

This poem is loaded with a historical significance and innuendo which I am going to bypass to focus on why I find this poem so inspiring. The poem contains a multitude of characteristics deemed essential to any person who seeks to persevere during hard times. In particular, a person must be humble, patient, rational, truthful, dependable, and forbearing  Her behaviour in response to deleterious events and cruel people is important; she must continue to have faith in herself when others doubt her, she must understand that her words might be twisted and used for evil, she must be able to deal with the highest and lowest echelons of society, and she must be able to withstand the lies and hatred emanating from others. 

She must possess self-trust and ability to understand the thoughts and feelings of others, even if that means understanding that people will not always like her or agree with her. If she is lied to or lied about, she must not stoop to the level of the liars. If she is hated she must not become hateful. Treat people in a manner that is reflective of her personal moral and spiritual high-ground rather the station where they are in their lives. 
Dreams and ambitions should not loosen her grip on reality. Success and failure are fleeting; the disruption or change that accompanies both disappears quickly. Do not dwell on enemies or disappointments.  All in all, she must be willing to pick herself up and start anew.

The virtues expressed in the poem are devoid of showiness or glamour; it is notable that the poem says nothing of heroic deeds of war, political engagements or great wealth or fame. True measure of a person is her humility, her resilience  and her stoicism. The virtues of fortitude, responsibility and resolution articulated  in the poem are especially valuable even in the complicated, straitened postmodern world.