Inviticus

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate;
I am the captain of my soul.



For those that know me, they will know that If by Kipling is my favorite poem of all time. It is both inspirational, insightful, and I often read it to help me right the rudder of the ship when is starts to go off course. Well, I came across this poem today, and I wanted to blog about it, because there is incredible meaning to the words. It talks about judgment, god, an afterlife, but most importantly accepting responsibility for your own actions in life, and acknowledging the consequences faced from those actions.

We live in a world where the previous president failed miserably, was never was held accountable for anything in life, and look at where he lead the country. Take a look at the banks who are failing because of their own greed, yet still think they should be bailed out by us. Clinton was out boning interns, and was never held accountable for his actions, so it isn't even a recent phenomenon. It seems that there is a tendency in this country to kind of skirt your responsibilities, never admit fault, and never be held accountable for mistakes you make in life. Well, I guess when you have an absorbent amount of money, or really rich Saudi friends to buy out failed business ventures this is possible (Google Harken Energy, Arbusto Oil and Spectrum 7) but it is not for the rest of us. We need to hold ourselves to a higher standard than the leaders of our past have. That is what this poem is about.

A man, on his death bed, looking back on the decisions he made in life, and accepting them for not only where he is, but also where he will be when he passes. It is about a day of reckoning of the mind, when a person looks back on his impact on the world around him, and tries to come to grips with not only the impact he had on the world, but more importantly, what his actions caused in terms of prophecy to himself.

For the millions of people that live life devoid of reality, for those who ignore the facts, suppress feelings, truths, and what reality is, this must be a very scary time indeed. For the others, ones that have lived their life in the now, who have not necessarily made the proper decisions in life all the time, but instead learned from those mistakes, this would be a time of coming to grips with the end, but also appreciating life for what it is.

I come from the school that life should be lived no matter what. There are a few proverbs in live that you can live by, and I have blogged about them before. Dance like nobody is watching, work like you don't need the money and love like you have never been hurt before. If you can do those three things in life, everything else will fall into place for you. It is funny, but Kipling touches on all of them in If as well, but that is for another blog, and I'm getting off track, this one is on Inviticus :P

Anywho...the last 4 lines are really moving and they are what not only the poem, but more so what life is about.


It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate;
I am the captain of my soul.

Pretty profound and strong language depicting the mistakes made in one's life, the acknowledgment that the mistakes made were of his own doing, and the acceptance of who he is as a person. This is something many MANY people have trouble with, and one thing that erodes everything in society. Accountability for you actions, for the decisions you have made in your life, are what defines you as a man. Everyone screws up in life, everyone. It is the few people who take the necessary steps to fix the issues they have, whom benefit from experience the most. Those that would ignore the past, are doomed to repeat it.

Life is funny like that, no matter what the outcome, certain circumstances come up and place you in certain points in your life where there is a crossroads. You can go one way or another, sometimes the choice is easy, sometimes the choice is extremely hard, but the choice to make is yours and yours alone. Accept the choices you have made, for good or for bad, because they make you who you are today. Come to grips with your past actions to be a better person in the future. Live in the here and now, and understand that you can not make decisions for others, only yourself. All of these lessons can be learned from the poem, it is one of the classics!