IF, like a query that resonates when questioning oneself alone in front of the mirror. IF, the
English title of Rudyard Kipling’s famous poem, less well rendered in French by “Tu seras
un homme mon fils” [You’ll be a man, my son]. An imperfect translation because in order to
become this ideal man, first this litany of ‘Ifs’ must be answered. Indeed, much more than a
definition, Kipling invites us to a path, to an asceticism and it is ‘if’ and only ‘if’ that then can
we claim to become this essence of the man as defined by the poet.
