No, I really didn't build that... Alone.

I think one of the better examples of failure to communicate is the president's well beaten speech about 'You didn't build that'.

As a now retired small business owner, I was slightly offended by the idea that I possibly didn't build that.

However thinking about it he is, to a great degree, correct.

While I did build things in my minor construction company, I didn't make the tools that I used. I'm not a black smith, thus I doubt I would make a decent hammer, a working screwdriver.

And I fear I am not a lumberjack either, nor do I have a lumber mill to take logs and convert them into standard easy to use lumber.

Nor did I build the roads upon which the trucks (I didn't build those either) travel upon to deliver the lumber to the store (which I didn't build) from whence I purchase the lumber from trees I did not plant nor harvest in order to 'build that'

I didn't build the power generators, nor did I build the power lines that allowed me to use power tools, which I didn't build either. I didn't pump the gasoline that I used to travel by my truck (which I didn't build) on those roads (I didn't build) to get to my clients.

Like it or not, I didn't build that. Fortunately I am part of a social order (yes socialism) where many people specialize and do many different things and we build together the business and things we have.

I didn't build it. WE built it together.

And that was the whole point of the speech.