Hooo - boy. Do I get the toughies.
You do know this is something that has been discussed, debated and made the subject of laws both secular and religious for thousands of years, right? Still it isn't settled because the definition changes as society changes.
Still, this definition works for me:
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!
Truth spoken by a horrifically racist a*shole is still truth. Everyone should know at least some Kipling.
I dig the tags on this post.
Great poem--think it applies to everyone :)
baha love YOUR last line lol so true tho, this one is on my wall, has been since we had to memorize it in grade 4. great answer. when i first saw this question, now this may age me a bit but who cares, i got that peter cetera song in my head. glory of love, "i am a man, who will fight for your honor..." so that and manners to me makes a man a man, i do think it is that simple. if a man has manners, good ones, not normal ones, good ones, he will show respect to everyone and the rest are just details.
To be a man you must be:
swift as a coursing river, with all the force of a great typhoon, with all the strength as a raging fire, and mysterious as the dark side of the moon.
This poem is on my laundry room wall, right under a picture of Hunter S. Thompson, a painting of Ophelia, and next to my 'Keep Calm and Carry On" poster. I love it.
OMG I love Kipling! And yes, racist! LOL!