Builder or Wrecker

I watched them tearing a building down,
A gang of men in a busy town;
With a ho-heave-ho and a lusty yell,
They swung a beam and the side wall fell.
I asked the foreman: “Are these men skilled?
And the men you’d hire if you had to build?”
He gave a laugh and said, “No indeed –
Just common labor is all I need.
I can easily wreck in a day or two
What builders have taken years to do.”

And I thought to myself as I went my way,
Which of these roles have I tried to play?
Am I a builder who works with care,
Measuring life by rule and square?
Am I shaping my deeds to 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?

-Author Unknown-