A Man

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!

All throughout my childhood I cherished tis poem but never knew why. I always wondered what kind of a 'man' would this definition be for..I have had 60 varied descriptions ranging from those hormonal descriptions  to that of one who respects those unwieldy abstractions of yore :-)

I finally have stumbled upon a living example of one such person. The funny thing is that when I broached this ancillary subject with him he seemed to feel that he has travelled so far from his home and thought many thoughts but all that remained was that he has grown old and lost his hair to which I counter with the  following immortal lines

   When old age shall this generation waste, 

        Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe 

    Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st, 

"Beauty is truth, truth beauty," - that is all 

        Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.

I may sound prejudiced when describing this man to you but every moment I have spent with him so far, has only affirmed the same belief and more.. He taught me  (unknowingly of course like Drona to Ekalavya) that being a man doesnt mean the macho thing (as we believed in our teens) or the extrasensitive doormat (as we believed in old age)...There's a fine line line that gentlemen seeking stripes know where to draw the line..has to be always fair and only bend the rules when they seem unjust or beyond reason..that there exists a balance for contradictory constraints that only one has to be creative in finding the solution..and many more things that canot be described in words here in this verbal dispatch.

Learn of the little nautilus to sail, Spread the thin oar, and catch the driving gale.