If
20
Just as Death and Destruction are never satisfied,
so human desire is never satisfied.
21
Fire tests the purity of silver and gold,
but a person is tested by being praised.
22
You cannot separate fools from their foolishness,
even though you grind them like grain with mortar and pestle.
Verse 22 presents us with a humorous example of how
deep-rooted foolishness is.
Praise and flattery can easily distort ones view of oneself.
Verse 21 is beautifully described in the poem “If” by Rudyard Kipling. In high school I read the poem,
and it has affected my life-view. If you aren’t
acquainted with the poem, it has deep meaning and has Wisdom like that found in Proverbs.
Let me ask you: What do you think of the following
poem?
If … by Rudyard Kipling
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’ll be a Man, my son!
Struggle to Standing. Available on Amazon. https://a.co/d/ev3YUqw
Website at https://www.wisdomfortheday.org
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