If ... My Ode to The Class of 2006 Preparing for the O Levels...

If you can still the heart and stay the course,
Or keep ur sanity and hold the sight;
If both grit and toil will challenge and try;
If all knowledge and quests baffle you, but none too hard or dry;
If you can grin and grind this final lap
With mind afire and eyes aglow-
Your 'morrow is the passion, word and deed,
And - without a doubt certain we are- yours will be success indeed!

That's my clumsy adaptation of 'If'... for the O levels... for the students who may feel faint at heart or over-stressed. Take heart in my not too polished words and FORGE ON... STAY THE COURSE, Firmly, Stoically, Steadily.. and You Will Be Fine.. You Will Shine!

The original poem 'If' by Kipling is one which I much admire, and which I have shared with my graduating students of 2005, and 2006. This is a poem that really anchors one to one's values, beliefs and ideals, and to never lose sight of that sincerity and trust even as one encounters wave after wave of conflicting demands from the fast-paced success-obssessed world. So, even as you move on to the next phase of your lives, this can serve as your anchoring creed.

The original...

If by Rudyard Kipling

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 imposters 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 wornout 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 breath 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!