“IF,” by Rudyard Kipling, is 32 lines of verse. The speaker of the poem believes that resilience primarily comes from within yourself, as opposed to others around you. Too, the speaker of the poem argues that overcoming setbacks is always easy, as opposed to never easy.

In a recent piece, “Vaccine opposition both causes death, hinders care,” the author reported a family member stating, “If he did contract the virus, he would survive it.” He was not vaccinated, thinking COVID-19 a “hoax.” Sadly, he died from virus complications.

Line 33: If you can doubt common sense, and survive it.

John Benoit

Manchester