Sam Gibbons: “I appreciate this every much. First I want to thank my colleague, Ms. Brown, for arranging this and her staff for doing…”

“I appreciate this every much. First I want to thank my colleague, Ms. Brown, for arranging this and her staff for doing all of this. I realize that many Members could not be here today and have submitted their remarks for the Record, for which I am most grateful. I am very grateful, too, for those who were able to show up today and pay me this honor. I am very proud that my wife, Martha, is here in the gallery to my left hearing all of this. I an overwhelmed by it. I do not deserve it all, but I darn sure appreciate every bit of it. This is not my last speech, and for that many of you can take a deep breath, because I am sure there are going to be many more battles in which we will agree and disagree, and I intend to participate in them. I retire now because I think it is time to do so. I have enjoyed every minute of the service I have been privileged to have for my constituents and for the American people. I am proud of the Congress. Oftentimes the Congress is misunderstood. We do not deal with the easy issues, and Americans really do not like conflict and they do not like us to express differences of opinion. They are very uncomfortable when they do that. Therefore, the Congress is often misjudged. This is a group of very dedicated people and vary skillful people, and people who have deep convictions about what they are doing. It takes a lot of patience to understand them and to tolerate the differences in views, but we must do that.”