INVICTUS

Have you seen the new Clint Eastwood movie about Nelson Mandela starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon? Some say it’s a sports movie about Rugby. Some say it’s a political film about Apartheid. I think its about thinking, living and focusing on principles, staying focused on the long term and INFLUENCE! After you read the poem below and watch the film, you tell me…

“Invictus”

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be,
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance,
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance,
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath & tears,
Looms but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years,
Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate;
I am the captain of my soul.

William E. Henley

I read this poem every day. It’s profound. What if you found a poem that reflects your attitudes and values and made it your own? John Wooden, the greatest men’s college basketball coach did…you can too. Or just go watch a Clint Eastwood movie…