迈克尔•杰克逊，1958年08月29日在美国印第安纳州加里市出生，美国歌手、舞蹈家、表演家、慈善家、音乐家、人道主义者、和平主义者、慈善机构创办人。其一生以吉卜林的这首诗歌《如果》为座右铭，并以此为墓志铭。

IF

By Rudyard Kipling

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;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;

If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with triumph and disaster

And treat those two imposters just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,

And stoop and build them up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breath a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

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";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;

If all men count with you,
but none too much;

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!

译文：如果

如果周围的人都不知所措并对你横加指责

而你仍能保持冷静并处之泰然

如果在人们都对你产生怀疑的时候

你仍能相信自己并对他人的怀疑报之以理解

如果你能学会耐心等待并不为等待所累

如果你曾被谎言欺骗却不因此而欺骗他人

如果你曾被世人憎恨却不因此而憎恨世人

既不虚有其表，也不夸夸其谈

如果你拥有梦想却不被其主宰

如果你勤于思考又能敏于践行

如果你在获得巨大成就或遭受彻底失败的时候

能将两者看似不同的经历等同视之

如果你能够敢于正视自己所说的箴言

被无赖扭曲利用陷害他人

或亲眼看到毕生心血毁于一旦

仍能够弯下腰来用破旧的工具一砖一瓦地重新建起

如果你敢于将人生赢得的全部筹码

孤注一掷再押一次

失败后仍有重新开始的勇气

对输赢却只字不提

如果你在失去这一切很久以后

仍能迫使自己的身体、心理和心灵适应和转变

一无所有仍能够坚持到底

哪怕心中只剩下意志在对自己说，坚持住

如果你与市井平民交谈仍能保持谦逊

与国王元首散步却能不失平易

如果无论对手还是亲密朋友都不能对你造成伤害

如果众人对你皆有尊重和指望

却又不过分依赖

如果你在心怀不可宽恕和不可原谅时刻

能够外出奔跑60秒取而代之

你的身心将与大地同在而包罗万象

更重要的是，你将成为一个真正的人，我的孩子！