Builders

I watched them tearing a building down,


A gang of men in a busy town.

With a you-heave-ho and a lusty yell,

They swung a beam and the side wall fell.

I asked the foreman: “Are these men skilled,

The kind you would hire if you wanted to build?”

He laughed and said, “Why, no, indeed!

Just common labor is all I need.

They can easily wreck in a day or two

What builders have taken years to do.”

Which of these roles have I tried today?

Am I a builder who works with care,

Measuring life by the rule and square,

Shaping my deeds by a well-made plan,

Patiently doing the best I can?

Or am I a wrecker who walks the town,

Content with the labor of tearing down?

- G.K. Chesterton