The story of three builders of a wall.

The story of 3 builders of a wall

There is a book by a 15th-century religious reformer in which he tells a story that happened when he was a child. That story changed his entire life.

He said that one day he passed a large building under construction in the blistering heat of the sun, surrounded by knitting men carrying bricks and stones, all drenched in sweat.

He asked, “What are you guys doing?”, and he got three…different answers.

The first builder said with a grumpy attitude: Can't you see the way? I'm working very hard to tile each brick and do nothing more.

The second builder was calmer, he arranged the bricks in a neat row, glanced at them and said: I am building a wall.

He approached the third builder, and there seemed to be a soft, exhilarating light in the man's eyes as he laid the bricks down, raised his head, wiped his sweat, and said very proudly: Did you ask me? We're building a great building, a church!"

10 years later…

The first remains a builder, the second becomes an architect, and the third becomes the boss of the other two.

Conclude

I call the attitude of the first man pessimistic. He sees his work as just a burden in a life of hard work; he can only stare at the hardship of this moment (this moment is real, of course).

The second man's attitude is what I call professionalism. He knows he is building a wall, that wall is part of a finished product and he has to do his best to make money. It was a professional duty and his attitude was highly dependent on his qualifications. However, he did not have any higher inclinations.

I call the attitude of the third man the ideological attitude, the optimistic spirit, the progressive attitude. Because he knows that every brick and every drop of sweat he is pouring will contribute to the building of a sacred place - a church. He sees every single one of his contributions as valuable and he sees results in the hard work he's doing. He does not work as a "instrument". The things he does are connected to our world, to our dreams, he says, which is something that is with us: a church. And at the same time, because he was immersed in the dream of a church, his thoughts went beyond personal achievements to much greater spiritual values...

The third builder's answer was clearly exhilarating, more eager thanks to his "foresight" ability. He looks beyond his current work, he foresees the results and predicts what will happen in the future with a magnificent building drawing already in his mind. Certainly, the work and life of the third person will be much more fun and interesting than the other two masons.