February 20th ... A Day of Reflection

 “Just Thinking”

I had a sad day yesterday; I attended the funeral of my friend and high school classmate F.X. Crowley. It was a beautiful celebration of his life, there was a packed house at St. Ignatius Church on the USF campus. His children all gave beautiful, heartfelt talks about their favorite memories of times spent with their father. I was so happy to see so many of my fellow classmates, to catch up, to tell stories of our times with F.X. and to talk about our great sense of loss.

Yesterday was also the 6th anniversary of my Dad’s passing, so when I got home, I had a lot to reflect on. I thought a lot about legacy, about family and about how fleeting our time is. I went through some of my journals and notebooks and came across one of my favorite poems, “If” by Rudyard Kipling, although addressed to a young man, it is really a father sharing his life’s learned lessons to a child , a beautiful testament of his love and legacy.

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!

God Bless F.X. - God Bless Dad.

Let me know what you think.

@ChuckBarberini - #ChuckBarberiniRealEstate - @ChuckBarberiniRealEstate

@Golden_State_Guide_Service - @Citizen.Number.One