Poem --If
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;
Breaking it down:
Become an honest man, and hate no one else; all of this must be done although we will likely encounter liars, haters, and people in a constant rush. Allow our ego (via our public acknowledgment of our own "goodness" and "knowing") to act in equally as destructive ways. It is not enough to be good; one must be humble as well.