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I was thinking about Kipling's poem "If" today and how I identified it as a blueprint for my life when I first read it in highschool some 40 years ago. The thought then came to me that the characteristics of compassion and kindness were never mentioned in the poem. My next thought was "I bet there's a feminist critique of the poem." Sure enough, a Google search quickly brought up this poem.Before I read it my thoughts were "Oh boy! Here we go!" However, I must say that my perspective quickly changed as I thought the poem was quite good and offers a nice balance to Kipling's poem. My quibble is that the commentary seemed to denigrate Kipling's perspective instead of simply acknowledging that there are other perspectives. I couldn't help but remember how the NYC firefighters were held in such high esteem during 9/11, as I spoke to many people at that time who were literally trembling in their boots and functionally incapacitated by their fear. The "stiff upper lip" and doing what needed to be done that these brave firefighters showed is consistent with Kipling's version. Perhaps the next stage in the evolution of thought would be to acknowledge and embrace strengths from different perspectives instead of implying that other perspectives are lesser than our own.