I was given this poem by my water polo coach when I was a Freshman in High School.  I’m not sure what it was, but something prompted me to keep it.  It has hung on my dream board for over a decade and I think it’s lesson still rings very true today…

                 The Builder

I saw a group of men in my hometown,
I saw a group of men tearing a building down.

With a heave and a ho and a might yell,
They swing a beam and the sidewalk fell.

And so I said to the foremen “Are these men skilled,”
The type you would hire if you wanted to build?

And he laughed and said “Why no indeed,”
He said “Common labor is all I need.”

For I can tear down in a day or two
What it took good builders ten years to do.

And I thought to myself as I walked away
Which of these roles was I going to be play?

Am I the type that constantly tears down
As I steal other’s hopes and dreams to the ground?

Or am I the type that’s going to build with care,
To create something strong that will stand through the years.

 The world is too full of common laborers… be a builder!

Blake