Besides The Jungle Book, Kipling Wrote Famous Poem

Let's take a break from terrorism, presidential campaigns, and America's culture wars. Let's review a movie! I went to watch The Jungle Book with my daughter and her family. I wondered if it might be a bit scary for her youngest, but she soon fell asleep. Her older sister, still preschool, enjoyed all of it. No animals were seen being killed, even though some attacks and chases happened. The drama was exciting, maybe even intense, at times. The values promoted were respect, loyalty, and love.

Rudyard Kipling was a British journalist in India who died in 1936. I was first impressed with his poem, "If." It was written as paternal, albeit poetic, advice to his son. The rhythm and rhyme of the poem are perfectly cadenced, and the fatherly advice is wonderful, wise, and manly. Its verses embody timeless wisdom. Here's his famous poem.

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!"

But most people know Rudyard Kipling as the author of Jungle Book, first published as a novel in 1894. Walt Disney turned the book into a popular movie. That old movie was a popular hit, a classic, due I feel, to its memorable music. I enjoyed this remake of The Jungle Book because it has a lot of the original music and it holds true to the original tale. This newer film is the finest example of computer-generated cinematography I've seen. There is only one human actor, a boy, and the animals seem to come to life with amazing realism. If you liked the original story or earlier movie, you will surely appreciate this version. Take your kids and safely enjoy it as a family.

RON WOOD IS A WRITER, TEACHER AND MINISTER. EMAIL HIM AT [email protected] OR VISIT WWW.TOUCHEDBYGRACE.ORG.