Lesson 636: If

Good evening, Readers.

Tonight's lesson from the Lamp Post
will be brought to you
via the current method of our educational systems--
by blog reading
and videos.

Our word of focus tonight is IF.


It's not bad for a spelling test,
but a Text Dependent Analysis essay
centering on the famous Rudyard Kipling poem so named,
is a bit more tricky.

Tonight IF looms over us like an ominous cloud.

What if........?

A tangled web of thought scenarios

involving the future

creates anxiety.

I implore you to take the word IF

and flip it from a term of 

angst and anxiety

to one of

POSSIBILITY and POWER.

What if we have found a way to maneuver a virus?

What if we form coalitions for a common cause?

What if, 

in this strange waiting game

 the world finds itself in,

we find peace in our patience?

Your mandatory assignment

during this two week school shut down

is to read the words of one of my favorite poems,

If, by Rudyard Kipling,

 published in 1910.

Rudyard Kipling is one of my word heroes,
a dealer in words so timely and perfect for this week.

Assignment:
Read the following poem
and watch the videos with modern day applications.
Do not skip the text and go straight to the videos
(Louie, Karen, Sam.....)

I highlighted my favorite stanzas in bold.
If you memorize a line or two,
extra credit!

If— 

BY RUDYARD KIPLING

(‘Brother Square-Toes’—Rewards and Fairies)

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!

Here are some modern day links to how the poem has been used.

The cab driver character Alex (Judd Hirsch) begins the poem

 and it is finished by the unlikely character Jim (Christopher Lloyd) 

in season 2 episode 22 of the television show Taxi.

Taxi episode CLICK HERE

In The Simpsons, Grandpa Simpson quotes

 an abbreviated portion in "Old Money"

 as justification to betting all the winnings 

of a recent inheritance at roulette.^[16]

Simpson's Episode CLICK HERE

In 2016, the Boston Red Sox used the poem 

in a short video tribute

 to retiring player David Ortiz, narrated by Kevin Spacey.^[22]

Tennis player Serena Williams recited a version of the poem 

for International Women’s Day 2017, substituting 'woman' for 'man.'^[23]

Serena Williams CLICK HERE

Here's another great interpretation I came across in my search.
This one is really wonderful.

Smash Up of poem CLICK here

Readers, 

on-line education,

no matter how convenient,

can never hold the high esteem of face-to-face instruction.

However,

used as a tool,

and as in today's time of need,

it is a good substitute until we can meet in school again.

Some scenes from an angry Lake Erie tonight

to end this blog appear below.

Stay strong and positive.

Let's see what next week brings.

See you then.

Eloise

 

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