Am I A Builder?
The true title and author of this piece are unknown. However, this verse was quoted by M:W: Dean C. Mabry, the Grand Master of Colorado, in his address to the 111th Annual Communication of the G.L. of Colorado AF&AM, January 24th and 25th, 1972.
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 sides fell.
I asked the foreman, "Are these men skilled
And the kind you would hire, if you had to build?"
And 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 other builders have taken a year 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 that works with care
Measuring life by the 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."
The true title and author of this piece are unknown. However, this verse was quoted by M:W: Dean C. Mabry, the Grand Master of Colorado, in his address to the 111th Annual Communication of the G.L. of Colorado AF&AM, January 24th and 25th, 1972.
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 sides fell.
I asked the foreman, "Are these men skilled
And the kind you would hire, if you had to build?"
And 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 other builders have taken a year 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 that works with care
Measuring life by the 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."