THE CHARACTER OF A MAN

I believe the recent debates have afforded us a rare glimpse into the characters of the two men seeking to lead the nation for the next four years. Lately character has become a big deal and I have been searching for contemporary examples of manly character. You see my wife and I raised a wonderful daughter who had blessed us with two grandsons, one soon to turn three and his 20-month old little brother. They are delightfully dissimiliar in personalities and we love them for their uniquenesses, however, we want to begin influencing the development of godly character as their core worldviews are being formed. What are the behaviors of a man with a sound character? I believe Rudyard Kipling summed it up well in his little poem. I encourage you to pass this on to the men and boys in your life:

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 imposters 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 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