I wonder if this verse was Mr Guest’s answer to Rudyard Kipling’s famous verse, IF? Read IF here.
DUTY
by Edgar Guest
To do your little bit of toil,
to play life’s game with head erect;
to stoop to nothing that would soil
your honor or your self-respect;
to win what gold and fame you can,
but first of all to be a man.
To know the bitter and the sweet,
the sunshine and the days of rain;
to meet both victory and defeat,
nor boast too loudly nor complain;
to face whatever fates befall
and be a man throughout it all.
To seek success in honest strife
but not to value it so much
that, winning it, you go through life
stained by dishonor’s scarlet touch.
What goal or dream you choose, pursue,
but be a man whatever you do!
From his book, Collected Verse of Edgar A Guest
© 1934 by The Reilly & Lee Company
Christine's Collection 
This is one I’m familiar with, and there is a similarity to Kipling’s, which ends with “You’ll be a man, my friend.”
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Methinks it doesn’t hurt to remind ourselves of these old, noble sentiments. 🙂
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Not at all. I think it would improve a lot of things if we did!
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