~Builders and Wreckers

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Builders and Wreckers

My training as a lawyer taught me to identify weaknesses in arguments and hidden risks in ideas. Although I was often accused of negativism, I thought of myself as a constructive critic, even when there wasn’t anything constructive in my criticism. A simple poem called "Builders and Wreckers" changed my perspective.

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 wall fell.

I asked the foreman, "Are these men skilled?
     Like the men you’d hire if you had to build?"

He laughed as he replied, "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."

I asked myself as I went away
     Which of these roles have I tried to play?

Am I a builder who works with care,
     Measuring life by rule and square?

Or am I a wrecker who walks the town
     Content with the labor of tearing down?

You see, it takes years, sweat, careful dedication and a sense of purpose to build anything; it takes intentionality. On the other hand, it takes a moment to wreck it! It takes vocational passion, a purpose, a heart, a committed mind, skills and professional expertise to build people, a family, a marriage and institutions. It takes uneducated labor, unrestrained emotions, anger, wrath, the winds of toxic influence, drugs, alcohol, envy and "bulldozers" to wreck it! It takes dedicated, consistent love over time on a teacher's part to build a child's confidence. It takes a bully's destructive words to destroy the same child's self-esteem. It takes years for a parent to love a child into maturity. It takes a wrecking, irresponsible act from the same parent to destroy it all. It takes years and time to build anything, but it takes only a few days to destroy it all; sometimes it takes simply one single act!

Above paragraph by Harold J. Duarte-Bernhardt ~ co-founder of the "LIFE ZONE)

Why do so many of us find it gratifying to be sideline cynics smothering ideas in a relentless barrage of "what ifs" and warnings? As the poem points out, it’s much easier to be a wrecker than a builder.

Of course, it’s wise and necessary to challenge assumptions, test theories, and predict problems, but that should be the beginning, not an end. We should measure our value by the number of balloons we helped launch, not the number we deflated.

A builder sees problems as challenges and seeks solutions; a dismantler sees problems in every solution. A builder sees flaws and tries to fix them; a dismantler sees flaws in every fix.

We need more builders.

~Source unknown