"If" is a word that has been thrown around in literature for years due to its immense versatility. Rudyard Kipling's "If" defines that through four stanzas and exceptional diction. By utilizing his point of view as indicated by his motivational ideas that he expresses to his son, he reinforces the boundaries to become a man. Through this diction, Kipling aims to anchor a personal, significant meaning for everybody. Throughout this piece, it is apparent that Kipling exhibits a set of human characteristics to become the best "man" you can be. When this piece is combined with the Ram "Farmer" Commercial, it is apparent that Farmers follow the same set of characteristics displayed in "If". The Dodge Ram pickup truck is the perfect transmitter for this message due to the modern day obsession with pickup trucks and the correlation between a man and his vehicle. Combined with the image of a hard-working blue-collar farmer, it sparks interest in each viewer to show that they can also rise to new heights. While Paul Harvey narrates the speech given in 1978, he repeats that these are statements coming from God. This helps support the significance of his words and assigns a compelling meaning to each statement. Both pieces of literature combined with the culture of the pickup truck help exemplify the personal growth of man and farmers worldwide. 

Rudyard Kipling's "If" was written in 1895, and first published in 1910. Written in a form that appears as a form of instructions, it actually was written to Rudyard Kipling's son, John. While inspired by the military grit of Leander Starr Jameson, it truly exemplified the many traits of growth and manhood. Honor, Courage, and Commitment are three core values of the Military, to help reinforce this, A correlation between the farmer and being a man fit together perfectly. Similar to the characteristics of farmers across the country that are glorified in the Ram commercial, Paul Harvey's speech intends to reflect the general hardships and personal gains of farmers. When both are combined, they portray a compelling method intended to spark interest and motivation in every viewer. 

The toughness, grit, and integrity imbedded in the American Farmer have been an icon for decades. In the Ram "Farmer" commercial, Paul Harvey's 1978 speech is narrated throughout a backdrop of sentimental images of some of the most backbreaking work that men and women still face today, farming. Beginning in the first stanza in Kipling's "If", he sets down a set of ground rules for individuals in tough situations. When doom is looking one in the face, they must gather the individual courage to overcome and flourish. This first stanza helps reinforce the kind of adverse situations that farmers face throughout their careers. Kipling states "If you can keep your head when all about you, are losing theirs and blaming it on you; if you can trust yourself when all men doubt you; but make allowance for their doubting too"; an extremely powerful statement to help imbed the kind of versatility that man must inhibit in order to overcome the adverse obstacles throughout life. Harvey states "God said, " I need somebody willing to sit up all night with a newborn colt. And watch it die. Then dry his eyes and say 'Maybe next year.'" This is a powerful situation that farmers will almost always face during their extensive careers. While these animals are vital to a farmer's output economically, losing one is extremely hurtful to the amount of assets these animals could put out. The imagery of a farmer staying up all night after being on his hands and knees doing farm work all day imbeds the image of grit and toughness. While Harvey implants this image first, he follows it by showing the gentle side of nurturing the colt all night, only to watch it die. When the farmer says "maybe next year", this displays the kind of flexibility and courage that the farmer must muster in order to overcome adverse situations such as this one. These circumstances are dealt to farmers throughout their lives, only to in turn help them become extremely versatile and able to overcome everything in their path. The determination and drive that farmers have by utilizing this characteristic helps pave a way for future goals, much like Kipling's second stanza.

Upon venturing into the second stanza, Kipling aims to express his ideas on pursuing goals throughout life. He advises his readers to always reach for the stars and attempt to reach the highest goals possible, but also to not let it consume ones life. In the statement "If you can dream   and not make dreams your master; If you can think   and not make thoughts your aim;" Kipling also reminds his readers that reaching these goals will not be an easy ride, as nothing in life is guaranteed. By allowing room for error, one will gain the ability to reach these goals without consumption. Farmers display the same kind of drive and determination. Harvey states "God said, "I need somebody strong enough to clear trees and heave bails, yet gentle enough to tame lambs and wean pigs and tend the pink-combed pullets, who will stop his mower for an hour to splint the broken leg of a meadow lark." The reader can assume that while clearing trees and heaving heavy bails, this farmer is trailblazing a path for a dream, to have a successful farm, but also keeping modest traits by saving farm animals if needed. These injuries in the animals represent the same kind of obstacles in life that Kipling briefly brushes on his second stanza, and the importance of overcoming them in order to continue pursing dreams. With the versatility and courage that the farmer displays, it allows for a more humble and fulfilled lifestyle, by not only helping himself and his family, but stopping in movement to make an animals life better. With these risks come rewards, much like the message implemented in Kipling's third stanza.

Kipling states "If you can make one heap of all your winnings, and risk it on one turn of a pitch-and-toss, and lose, and start at your beginnings  To serve your turn long after they are gone, and so hold on when there is nothing in you, except the will which says to them: Hold on". This statement can be looked at throughout the comparison as the backbone of the farmer. Farmers are invariably placing their entire capital in the hands of Mother Nature, and the single force driving them is self-will. The inside voice saying "Hold on" to take care of loved ones, never stop "Holding on" to fulfill this goal. While Harvey speaks about the dying colt, he also constantly speaks about the time commitment that farmers must utilize in order to ensure they are completing each job one hundred and ten percent. Harvey states "And who, planting time and harvest season, will finish his forty-hour week by Tuesday noon, then, pain'n from 'tractor back,' put in another seventy-two hours." A forty-hour workweek by Tuesday Afternoon is unheard of by a majority of people, except for those such as farmers. Self-will and self-reliance are immense factors that play a part that farmers utilize to put in hundreds of hours monthly in order to support themselves and their families. Both self-will and self-reliance are key characteristics of maturity and growth, hence the direct connection between Kipling's message about manhood and Harvey's depiction of the farmer. Kipling uses the first three stanzas in order to set the reader up for the finale that sits in the fourth stanza, but also the underlying theme throughout this piece. 

While the reader gains and immense amount of knowledge and insight throughout the first three stanzas, Kipling sets the tone for those wanting wisdom in the fourth stanza. When Kipling says, "If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, or walk with kings- nor lose the common touch"; this gives the hint that the reader has reached the goal or dream they have strived for due to Kipling's reference to walking with kings. Many farmers have reached this dream of supporting their families, feeding their communities through various crops, and the self-fulfillment they once desired. As the reader continues through the stanza, Kipling also states "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!" This gives the reader the notion that they must make the best of everything in front of them throughout life, and to take advantage of their surroundings and strives to be the best person that they can be. This can be applied to farmers directly, as they face one of the most stressful jobs in the country. Throughout depending on mother nature to fulfill their crop requirements, to controlling hundreds of acres on their own, sometimes with help from a handful of trusted individuals. Once a farmer has reached this plateau of becoming the God of their own land, they have walked with kings and completed what they once strived for while gazing over an open, empty field. 

Both Paul Harvey's 1978 'So God Made A Farmer' Speech, and Rudyard Kipling's "If" both convey much more than the few lines they take up on a page. They articulate the modern day growth of man by using the utmost charisma possible in each situation. With both pieces of literature reflecting, combined with the modern day perception of driving a pickup truck, it creates the motivational thinking that sparks growth in personal situations. Throughout Rudyard Kipling's four stanzas, he conveys the utmost important life lessons of maturity and encompassing the "manhood" everyone strives for. Paul Harvey's perception of the bold, determined farmer who will put in hours finishing painstaking work at all hours of the day is the realistic personified man that is depicted in Kipling's "If". 

