Find Your Chances

My grandfather passed away 25 years ago when I was just 3 years old. But while he was alive, he carried with him in his wallet a copy of the poem, The Man in the Glass. Since I was just three years old when he died, I don’t remember him very well, but the many stories I have heard about him from my grandmother, mother, father, aunt and uncle leads me to believe he was a funny, sincere, and devoted husband, father, and grandfather. I imagine he took the words below to heart each and every day of his life, leaving behind family, friends, and colleagues who were blessed to know a very good man.

When you get what you want in your struggle for gain
And the world makes you king for a day,
Just go to a mirror and look at yourself,
And see what that man has to say.

For it isn’t your father or mother or wife
Whose judgment upon you must pass.
The one whose verdict counts most in you life
Is the one staring back from the glass.

You may be the one who got a good break,
And think you’re a wonderful guy.
But the man in the glass says you’re only a fake
If you can’t look him straight in the eye.

He’s the one you must satisfy, beyond all the rest,
For he’s with you clear up to the end.
And you’ve passed your most dangerous, difficult test
If the man in the glass is your friend.

You may fool the whole world down the pathway of years,
And get pats on the back as you pass.
But your final reward will be heartaches and tears
If you’ve cheated the man in the glass.

Dale Wimbrow (c) 1934
1895-1954