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You'll be a Man, my son !


When unexpected major events occur we sometimes have to take stock , step back and re-evaluate our lives .
I am a man possibly with an old fashioned moral code living in the wrong century . Alternately I may be among the best able and equipped for the changes that may be about to occur .
I actually try to live by the British Stiff upper lip best set out by Rudyard Kipling in his wold famous poem about manhood IF .

I have highlighted the lines relevant to my current situation and will behave accordingly .

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!

This was my fathers view - except he did have reservations about risking everything on a turn of " Pitch and Loss ".It has been passed on to me for better or worse . I am trapped by what my parents held dear . The line "You will be a man my son " could them him talking direct to me .

I take comfort from the fact that I have throughout my life done constructive work and will therefore leave the world better for having lived .I have not been a politician constantly changing old laws and making new ones to the detriment of society . I have not been a bureaucrat only obeying orders , riding on the backs of the workers and entrepreneurs whilst hindering them at every turn . My legacy will not result in the complete social and economic Breakdown of Britain .Having everyone on the government gravy train trying to extract more and more tax from the fewer and fewer productive people will result in a Bankrupt nation with social unrest .
My generation has " never had it so good " in economic terms . Unthinkable personal wealth and opportunity standing on the shoulders and achievements of past generations .
But like the hopeless spoilt children of a millionaire entrepreneur we have not built on it but squandered the wealth on ill conceived social programs . These have perpetuated and exacerbated the problems they were intended to solve . The much praised welfare state has , with its high incremental tax driven away entrepreneurs and productive businesses , removed the incentives for hard work and created and is growing an unhappy antisocial underclass . We are approaching the end game of socialism here in Britain and things are going to get interesting .
The only certainty is change !

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