Building up or tearing down

Some people go all over the place building up people. Some people go all over the place tearing down people. Listen to this poem:

Buildings: Which

Worker Are You? 

(Author Unknown) 

 I saw them tearing a building down, 

A group of men in a busy town, 

With a hefty blow and a lusty yell, 

They swung with zest, and a side wall fell. 

Asked of the foreman, “Are these men skilled? 

The kind you would hire, if you had to build?” 

He looked at me, and laughed, “No indeed! 

Unskilled labor is all I need. 

Why, they can wreck in a day or two, 

What it has taken builders years to do.” 

I asked myself, as I went my way, 

Which of the roles have I tried to play? 

Am I a builder with rule and square, 

Measuring and constructing with skill and care? 

Or am I the wrecker who walks the town, 

Content with the business of tearing down? 

It takes courage to be a builder and simple cowardice to be a downer. So what does “courage” have to do with being a person of good character...with being a person who stays true to his principles and values? The answer is EVERYTHING!

Building up your people incurs the risk of people taking advantage of you. But courage says, “It is a risk worth taking!”

Building up people involves caring, trusting and loving people who may one day turn their backs on you, or worse, go all out in destroying you. But courage says, “To care I should. To trust I must. To love I would.“

Courage of character means two things:

1. Doing what’s right – following our frame of moral reference (i.e. The Bible), our conscience; refusing to compromise our principles despite pressures and temptations to the contrary, and;

2. Taking a stand against what’s wrong – speaking out, whenever we see others do things that are incorrect or inappropriate.

Unquestionably, both require guts and fortitude. Both require courage.

Somebody texted me this quote:

Courage is...

…following your conscience instead of the crowd.

…refusing to take part in hurtful or disrespectful behaviors.

…sacrificing personal gain for the benefit of others.

…speaking your mind even though others don’t agree.

…taking complete responsibility for your actions...and your mistakes.

...following the rules – and insisting that others do the same.

…challenging the status quo in search of better ways.

…doing what you know is right, regardless of potential risks and consequences.

Meanwhile, a famous “Cadet Prayer” recited during chapel services at the US Military Academy goes this way:

“Make us to choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong, and never to be content with a half truth when the whole truth can be won. Endow us with the courage that is born of loyalty to all that is noble and worthy, that scorns to compromise with vice and injustice, and knows no fear when truth and right are in jeopardy.”

That is truly the essence of courage.

So starting today, cultivate the courage to love God and family, to work honorably and to serve the country. Cultivate the courage to build up people and not to tear them down.

Remember, cruel words deeply hurt; loving words quickly heal. Once you get to the work place tomorrow, build up the people you work with. And in your own homes today, build up the people you love and live with.

(I’d love to hear from you! Click on to www.franciskong.com to send me your feedback. For more tips on business, career and life, listen to my radio program “Business Matters” aired at 8:00 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. on weekdays, over the classical music station, 98.7 dzFE-FM ‘The Master’s Touch’.)