Leadership

The rabble did babble in pointless fury

As the problem lay ignored and still

Opinions launched in a chaotic flurry

Each intent to impose its own will

Argue and argue and argue some more

Seems so hard for sanity to avail

While all around the debating floor

Lay all the wreckage of an oft told tale

Everyone knew what must be done

But no one dared to do it

By hard dirty labor it must be won

But no one would see through it

“We must get to work!” they all cried

But no one budged at all.

‘Cause none of the leaders they espied

Did more than issue the call

Ever higher the rhetoric was raised

Epithets flying in bitter sad song

As though the force of will displayed

Were sufficient to right all that’s wrong

Then somewhere near the side a man

Stepped from the shadows to fore

He said not a word, & raised not a hand

To quiet the din and the roar

He just quietly picked up a tool

And weighed it in his strong grip

Selected a board and a nail and a spool

And a hammer to hang on his hip

Silently he started to build

Unnoticed by the great teeming row

His hand were calloused, his face was filled

With wrinkles,  yet strangely unbowed

He drove the nail and sawed the board

And soon had raised a wall

He asked no one to lift even a cord

Or help in any way at all

He soon was mocked and criticized

“How dare you start without us!”

They cursed and spit and spouted lies

“Don’t you know this is all about us?!?”

He paid them not a whit of heed

And kept his head bent to his work

He sawed and nailed, a steep price indeed

In sweat and blood and hurt

His attackers soon grew tired of him

“We’ll leave him here to rot!

“A model for fools, with wisdom slim!”

And they all walked away and forgot

But soon the man felt a soft breeze

Cooling the sweat on his brow

As a younger man quietly rolled up his sleeves

And set his hand to the plow

He said not a word, needed no inspiration

He simply took up the burden of toil

He followed along with no consternation

And didn’t care if his hands he did soil.

Soon other joined with no thought of gain

They had not a care for who might

Deride or applaud their efforts, not in vain

Tho’ they may be in some slacker’s dim sight

Their leader gave no indication

That he’d needed their help from the start

He simply worked with determination

And berated no one else’s small part

He did not command, no glory did sell

Certain that others like he would savor

The satisfaction of hard work done well

The peaceful sleep of an honest days’ labor

The work was not glamorous or high spoken

Few indeed noticed at all

He lost track of the tools that were broken

And hours spent sharpening his saw

The moral of my story ‘tis true

And not easily swept away

People will notice what you do

Long before they will hear what you say.

An old wise saying comes now to my mind

Though I’ve forgotten now just who ‘twas that said it

It’s amazing what will work out just fine

If you don’t care who takes the credit.