Wrecker or Builder
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 a sidewall fell.
I asked the foreman, ” are these men skilled,
As 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 builder have taken a year to do.”
And I thought to myself as I went my way,
Which of these two roles have I tried to play?
Am I a builder who works with care
Measuring life by the rule and square?
Am I 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?
Clarence E. Allerton, Local Union 439, Orange, N.J.