Poem: "The Question" by Unknown

Were the whole world good as you – not an atom better –
Were it just as pure and true,
Just as pure and true as you;
Just as strong in faith and works;
Just as free from crafty quirks;
All extortion, all deceit;
Schemes its neighbors to defeat;
Schemes its neighbors to defraud;
Schemes some culprit to applaud –
Would this world be better?

If the whole world followed you – followed to the letter –
Would it be a nobler world,
All deceit and falsehood hurled
From it altogether;
Malice, selfishness, and lust;
Banished from beneath the crust,
Covering human hearts from view –
Tell me, if it followed you,
Would the world be better?

Source: Found in William J. Bennett, ed., The Book of Virtues, pp. 643-644.