Johnny Isakson: “I thank the Senator from Oklahoma for yielding. I will be brief. But I spend a lot of time, as all of us do, listening…”

“I thank the Senator from Oklahoma for yielding. I will be brief. But I spend a lot of time, as all of us do, listening to the speeches of our colleagues. I spend a lot of time thinking about what they say. I was compelled to come to the floor, as I heard the opening remarks by the Senator from Oklahoma, to tell a little story. Talking about grandchildren, my wife and I are blessed. We have nine of them. This past Tuesday, June 15, was our 42nd wedding anniversary. Really, the rest of my life is about those grandchildren, to whatever extent I can do it, either as a grandfather or a legislator, trying to make sure we leave them a life that at least has the hope of opportunity as great as was left to all of us by the generations who preceded us. A few weeks ago, in Albany, GA--actually a few months ago--I was making a speech, as all of us do, and used ``a trillion'' as easily as all of us do in our speeches. After my speech, I opened the floor for questions, and a gentleman at the back of the room said: I just can't quite get my hands on how much a trillion really is. Can you explain it? I was up there doing the best I could. I got the number of zeroes past a billion, and all this. But I could not quantify it to magnify the gravity of what that number means. So when I got home that night, my wife of 42 years suggested: Why don't you just figure out how many years have to go by for a trillion seconds to pass? I said: You know, that is a good idea.…”