Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 1, Number 5, 1 June 1984 — "If" [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

"If"

By Moses K. Keale Sr. Trustee, Kaua'i and Ni'ihau These are difficult times for all of us who care about the future of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the future wellbeing of the Hawaiian people. There must always be room for the expression of differing ideas and viewpoints. Honorable men and women should be able to disagree honorably. But we must take care to make a distinction

between attacking an idea and launching a personal attack on an individual. The guidelines set forth in Rudyard Kipling's famous poem "If" provide a goal for us to strive for. Kipling, of course, was not Hawaiian, but his philosophy is greatly in tune with that of our kupuna.

With this in mind I would like to use the space alloted me in this issuc of Ka Wai Ola O OH A to reproduce Kipling's poem.

II"Brother Square-Toes"— Rewards and Fairies If you ean keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you ean trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowanee for their doubting too; If you ean 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 ean dream — and not make dreams your master; If you ean think — and not make thoughts your aim; If you ean meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same; If you ean 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 ean 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 ean 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 whieh says to them: "Hold on!' If you ean talk with crowds and keep your virute, Or walk with Kings — nor lose the eommon touch, If neither foes nor loving friends ean hurt you, If all men count with you, but none too mueh^ If you ean fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds' worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, And — whieh is more — you'll be a Man, my son!