The crucial thing: If

If is vital. It’s a conjunction. In logic, it’s what’s known as the grounds of a conditional statement. If this, then that, for example.

I think we all are mimetic by nature. That is, we try to emulate those we admire, whether they’re still with us or have passed on. Some of the men I’ve most admired are those who kept their cool when many others were squirreling out. It reminds me of one of Kipling’s most famous poems. “If” is the title. It is cute, but wise. Don’t let the light timbre fool you:

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!

So very often the quality of an organization hinges upon the If-factor. That is, if the people are wise, if they are good, if they are faithful, if they demonstrate that calmness of spirit when the wheels are coming off the trains in so many other areas of life–a wise and calm perseverance of spirit and mind are not be underestimated. If is a condition, a crucial one. I’m grateful to have had a few such precious men in my life. May I do likewise and emulate well.

“Whoever restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding” (Proverbs 27:17).