IF

The last 6 months of Wall Street mayhem have torn us apart emotionally. On the surface, we hold tight. Underneath, our stomachs churn as we ponder5 what to do next. We wonder in silence how we will ever retire, cover various emergency costs, pay our bills, keep our jobs when everyone else seems to lose theres.

The governor in Chicago quoted a favorite poet of mine in his defense. But he left most of the poem out. His comments brought home to me my youthful passion and poise. I wanted this sense of being. Iwas deeply reminded of the goals laid forth in this poem. It's as good a reminder of how to deal with our Wall Street losses as it is how to deal with the loss of dreams or the betrayal by people whom we had held deep trust. If we can keep our heads, if we can rebuild our lifes, if we can keep our virtue, if we can keep our dreams....

If this, then that....and for me the then that is the beauty and the reason for keeping on.

[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 all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath 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