Sons or Daughters… Rudyard Kipling: “If: A Father’s Advice to His Son”

Photo of a vertically shaped red rock before a blue sky
Image free license freepik.com

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!


Holds true for daughters too…

Rudyard Kipling is not only author of ‘The Jungle Books’, that story of the ‘man cub’ Mowgli that is known across generations of children. He also was a memorable poet and writer, who wrote poems that are to the point and rhythm, as it were…as well as prose that is full of imagery and imagination.

His political views are rather doubtful and informed by the times he grew up in, but otherwise: Highly recommended. 🙃

“The Silent Majority” – The 100-People-Rule

Image of many figures like pieces in the blue dark, one of them in red and highlighted standing out.
(Image licensed freepik.com)

In former times it seemed to be a matter of course to talk about the ‘silent majority’. And it also seemed to be debatable: Did it exist?

These days we know: It does!

The statistics you get from business departments such as support, online and offline, confirm:

For any person letting a company, an organization, or platform know about their issues or problems or worries, there are around 100 silent ones who do not speak up. Some are too lazy. Some are too busy. Some are just too self-conscious, don’t dare to draw attention to themselves.

Whatever the reasons may be: I also know from actual experience how often people in everyday life underestimate the universal facts of human life:

Emotions, feelings, worries and also joy so often are felt very similarly. Yet, very often also people don’t know about that and therefore feel disconnected.

Sharing helps: Experience, emotions, and thoughts. And my blog is one place where I like to share for exactly that reason. To help and to spread perhaps a (little) light of understanding.

Social Media – Limits and Uses – “Beliefs and Disbeliefs”…

photo with wine glass before evening sky on terrace, smartphone and other digital devices to the side turned off
Image licensed via Adobe CC

‘Social media’ have their limitations and their uses. I use them with care – but I also know what I do not need. I can only share with any of my readers who are wondering: Make sure you ‘turn them off’ regularly, too.

Just as in former times people were wondering about being ‘in’, about ‘belonging’, so can social media these days create the impression that some things are crucial and should and have to be followed in order to be up-to-date.

That is NOT the case!

At some point you will – especially if yet young – come to realize that not ‘every thing’ is worth your while – nor ‘every body’.

Yes, the downside can be that there are people who use these channels just as they would ‘real life meetings’: To bother and torture others they find irritating.

Because that is what bullies do: They try to ‘remove’ the concept, the idea of life that seems to call their own into question.

And there are those that just have to be right, because being wrong is not contained in their own image of themselves. Almost sad really: They usually grow up believing that making mistakes is basically some sort of ‘sin’.
The thing that must not be.

I personally like to deal with social media a little like a tool that can be sharp and should be handled with care and laid down when not necessary anymore.

I like to observe a certain way of being respectful and polite.

But I also know that just as in real life there are all kinds of people around.

But I do not like to be around any kind of people… neither online, nor offline. I stick to my values and aim at spending quality time only with people of like mind.

My father put it rather graphically this way, in regard to judging the majority’s beliefs:

“If a million flies sit on excrement – do you  have to sit there too?”

The Miracle of Human Understanding

group of people and coloured arrows showing speech direction

Most of us past teenage years have seen and experienced misunderstandings. Some can be tragic, some can seem funny even, looking back, some are funny – and some are rather mundane, really.

What can make it difficult can be situations such as the following, a nice example I came across the other day, paraphrased here:

A group of people were scheduled for a training of communication. Everybody arrived in time, wore casual clothing as per agenda and was quite relaxed, chatting and waiting for the training to begin. A little while into the day’s itinerary, a young man who everybody had been wondering about, arrived far too late. He was very quiet, wore a business suit that obviously had been expensive and showed a rather withdrawn behaviour.

The group decided that he seemed rather arrogant and they felt annoyed and treated with a lack of basic politeness.

It took a while to find out that he had been to a funeral, unexpectedly and of a close person and barely had found time to arrive at all…

This little anecdote makes it clear nicely how easily unrelated events can be made into a chain of misunderstanding.

Keeping an open mind and realizing that our interpretations can be wrong in spite of appearances can be the first step towards real understanding.

Inexplicably Close? – The Trump-Putin Axis Explained

Image of a stack of coins and a rising business chart before it
Money, more money, profits… (Image licensed via Adobe CC)

All of you who are wondering and perhaps even seem to be challenged in believing it: Trump and Putin actually and truly are close.

Why?

How can it possibly be that a fiend such as Putin is close to someone like Trump, after all the president of the leading nation of the ‘free world’?

It’s basically three principles that apply:

    • “Cui bono?” – The Latin phrase is age old and describes what you would look for in most questions of business and politics to get a clear picture: “Who benefits?”
    • There’s history to rely on for similar examples: The Roman Empire especially and its several emperors in its later stages; corruption was common then.
    • Trump as well as Putin are very much alike in terms of personality: They crave attention and power, to different degrees. They need money and more money to achieve that.
      • That’s their basic common denominator or ground.

One proof was presented at the time (2016 US-presidential elections) by two newspapers, one of which cannot be trusted these days anymore because it was acquired by amazon’s founder. The proof was confirmed by the Pulitzer Prize committee (among others).
The New York Times still stands like a beacon, as yet.

Also please take into account that war especially in modern times is a means to an end. Cruel, but just that. Just as Netanyahu first aggravated and then used the conflict about Gaza to cover up the fact that the numbers of his votes were decreasing fast at the time – and the support for his internal politics declining.

For all of my readers who feel discouraged in the face of adversity and the abyss of human depravity, do not despair:

We are not the only ones worrying! The state of the world has been better – but it also has been worse, in the course of history!

Just think what the 30 Years’ War meant to Europe at the time!

Remember: Remind your democratically elected representatives of their tasks – and of what you really want.

Keep at it – and don’t forget about the breaks!


Update March 9th 2025: The New York Times has published a fine news analysis on March 7th here, confirming facts and this view on them – regarding Trump’s view on Putin.
ℹ️ Article should be paywall-free here, from my own subscription, to be purchased with a subscription for that newspaper usually:
Trump’s Affinity for Putin Grows More Consequential Than Ever
(URL taken and pasted at March 9th 2025, UTC+1, 01:03 p.m.)

For a comprehensive and concise view on Mr Trump’s biography and background that helps explain, confer to award-winning documentary producer and director Michael Kirk’s FRONTLINE-video on PBS, from 2017, in context of the 2016 elections, available from select locations:
President Trump

Social Media – Faked Images as Mobbing – Politics … and Reporters’ Reputations

Image of a room in a cave with a comfortable bed, jungle plants and sand as well as wooden planks on the floor, clearly being made up by digital tools
Suggestiveness… – Image by ALEX from Pixabay

The other day I came across another rather shocking fact in a documentary: The faked and montaged images of a female reporter who was close to exposing damaging truths about a politician: Even before AI putting a face with any other body found online or offline in a photograph was not uncommon or unheard of.

These days politicians such as somebody like Brazil’s former president Bolsonaro who is close to other right-wing politicians such as Trump are frequently turning to smear campaigns with falsified evidence that mean to destroy credibility or reputation of the targeted person.

I think too, that just as was the case in former times, when printed tabloids, or even before that, in the times of the ballads sung on street corners supported by huge drawings, made for sensationalism – rumour, legend and truth should actually be differentiated with care.

In this digital age it’s easy and fast to ‘make it up’… in every sense.

Don’t underestimate people’s suggestiveness in regard to ‘sensations’.

And if you would be interested in the truth: Check the facts and your sources – carefully.

The Deals: Politics and Business Rolled Into One – Ukraine for Gaza – Corruption on Large Scales

Image of two hands shaking in front of a digital network of lines
Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay

Be that Trump or Putin, they are about money, and more money – and their networks: They depend on the lobbyists behind them. They are not the only ones, but at the moment the most noticeable ones.

That’s why we see what we read and hear about: Trump has been best buddy to Putin at least ever since Trump’s first run for office. His family was actively maintaining contacts in Russia and with Putin. These facts have been proven. By newspapers such as the New York Times and the Washington Post.

Since then amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos has acquired the Washington Post and already he not only has reduced its staff: The quality and reliability of the content and the reporting has become rather superficial not to say doubtful.

Another dependent and buddy is Elon Musk, who at this very moment is firing thousands of US-government officials in the administration. A cover-up for the government funds he received for development. The Teslas failed and he would have to return billions of dollars and be bankrupt. This way: He just might be save…

The New York Times are a reliable source of information yet, but we can only hope that Trump as well as the several courts over there will let it stay that way. He certainly has done all he could – and had it done for him – to make sure that he practically cannot be drawn into court again. For none of his proven crimes.

In Europe we need to stay united, all those that are not yet compromised by money or power – but know what the true values of a democracy are:

Freedom, equality and fraternity.

Pick Your Battles – Or: Focus on Strength

Image of woman on mountain top before sunrise
(Image licensed via Adobe CC)

I have posted about wars. This is about the smaller ones in everyday life. We can make an issue out of every little thing. Sometimes, people will misunderstand it if we don’t. I had to fight a lot in the course of my life. I learned one thing for sure:

Many things can become big, even huge in the eyes of the world ‒ or our own ‒ if we make them that. Fighting is proven to ‘take it out of you’: You can become angry, even furious once you have chosen the issue. You start an argument, perhaps. Things even may escalate into a full-blown conflict that rages for years.

And for what, really? So often we will come to realize that a lot of things are not worth the energy, because:

Fighting saps one’s strength.

I am not talking about becoming angry ‒ and letting off steam. That’s important in a healthy way and done safely in order to not hurt others.
But fighting?

Fighting takes it out of you, the effects can become really dangerous to our system. Because, the way we deal with anger or even frustration is something we can learn ‒ and manage. So much in life depends on how we look at it. Strong emotions are part of our mindset ‒ that is also: part of how we evaluate what happens to us.

The first flush of anger may be involuntary ‒ but after that, it’s a choice. To save health and nerves and keep frustration at bay.

Because, also, so often looking back, we may regret unnecessary fights, especially with people we like or love.

That’s why I make it a point in my life ‒ and a plea here for all who are wondering: Pick your battles. The next one may be really worth it.

 


Author’s Note:
I write about such things because I learned early in life how easily we all tend to make our life difficult or even hurt the other’s feelings without meaning to. Misunderstandings too, are easy.  I have a strong background in workplace psychology, among many other fields of interest, be that history, philosophy ‒ or politics. I also have come across many misjudgements in life ‒ in private life or in business.
Enlightenment is a philosophical approach and subject ‒ to me it is essential to understand ‒ and make understood.

Trump as MENACE‌ to DEMOCRACY? – UKRAINE, SYRIA, GAZA: THE‌ DEAL

Screenshot of NATO member states, current, taken at 21-01-2025_06-16-46 at https://www.nato-pa.int/content/membership-map

The signs are there: He had the majority of Supreme Court Justices newly instated during his first time in office. He initiated the attack on the US-Capitol. The signs also are there that he will try to limit freedom of the press. At least.

He is on best terms with president Putin of Russia, who demonstrably manipulated elections in 2016 in Trump’s favour. I am convinced that the deal was worked to make peace in Gaza and Syria so that eventually NATO and Ukraine will agree to special contracts, regarding Ukraine’s status as non-member.
And when you look at the OFFICIAL NATO map, screenshot above taken from their website today, you cannot but wonder how one would not feel at least uncomfortable, being part of the white space to the right…

I recommend (yet, as long as they can) The New York Times as source of reliable information: They have won Pulitzer prizes for their reporting, research as well as content.
https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/staffs-new-york-times-and-washington-post
Note, update: The Washington Post some time ago was acquired by Jeff Bezos, the founder and owner of amazon and a Trump follower. So, although at the time the link’s content was created, it was reliable; it is not anymore.

Trump himself, as regards a non-character who is willing to do anything to appear powerful and wealthy, is a criminal several times over: He was ruled guilty before US courts more than once, for fraud and bribery as well as sexual coercion.

The Supreme Court, whose Justices in majority he instated newly with his followers during his first term in office, overruled those verdicts with the rather threadbare argument that he had been president and thus immune…

 

‘Stand-up’ Comedians: The President-elect of the US and Companies Donating – Nero Burning Rome…

Painting of Poppea and Nero Having the Head of Octavia Brought Forward to Them by Giovanni Muzzioli
Poppea and Nero Have the Head of Octavia Brought Forward to Them by Giovanni Muzzioli – Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

I wonder sometimes if there ever was a similar government and its head in history as the one coming up on Monday, 20th January…?

They say Nero in ancient Rome was made fun of, at the time and in later centuries; considered to be downright crazy and not to be depended upon. He apparently set fire to Rome, and had his mother and his first wife murdered.

Four years ago a person that has been ruled a criminal several times over in front of legal US courts, incited an attack on the US Capitol. A building that is one epitome of a republic claiming to be the oldest existing democracy and the seat of its parliament. 

And here they all are, be that Microsoft, Apple, Uber, amazon or Boeing: Millions of dollars donated just for the inauguration. Licking his boots.

The most pitiful spectacle is Trump himself who earnestly sends a message of ‘everybody wanting to be with him’ on social media.

Let’s just hope that somebody over there still has some sort of sense left and eventually will stop this sorry excuse for a man.

So needy he stops at nothing to get attention and be counted ‘powerful’ and rich, when you look at his history (Link to PBS broadcasting company’s site, FRONTLINE series of documentaries; this one award-winning).