“The good deed and the evil deed are not alike. Try a few mindfulless techniques, breathe slowly and deeply for a while, focus your attention on the minute details of your surroundings but most importantly don’t ever blame yourself for feeling the pain of injustice.Īnother lesson from these first few lines is the power of repelling evil with good, for this I am reminded of something much closer to my heart, a verse of the Holy Qur’an If like me, you’re a 40 something, chances are you grew up in the ‘man box’, stiff upper lip, never cry, never show weakness but our kids cry all the time and they are quite right to, when your emotions overcome you on occasions, you can take measures to control them but don’t suppress them, trust me you are only harming yourself and you can only do it for so long. When I read these words, what I get from it is be the better man, you know when you have been wronged, people are bad mouthing you, spreading false rumours, it hurts You are no less a man (or woman) for feeling pain, for feeling anxiety, you are a human being. Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,Īnd yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise’ If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,īut make allowance for their doubting too ‘IF you can keep your head when all about you But whatever you do, even if you think it’s ‘manly’ don’t get angry and don’t let anger rule your heart even for a second Rudyard Kipling is famous for ‘The Jungle Book’ but did you know he wrote this wonderful piece of poetry? It’s called ‘If’ and everytime I read it, I won’t lie, I well up, trust me, if you’re ever having a bad day or a bad time in your life and it will happen then read these empowering words and don’t be afraid to cry a bit if you need to….

Then you ll be a man my son