Gilbert Gutknecht: “I would like to read from Bill Bennett's Book of Virtues a poem entitled ``The Bridge Builders'' by Will Allen…”

“I would like to read from Bill Bennett's Book of Virtues a poem entitled ``The Bridge Builders'' by Will Allen Dromgoole. The poem speaks of generational equity. An old man, going a lone highway, Came, at evening, cold and gray, To a chasm, vast, and deep, and wide, Through which was flowing a sullen tide. The old man crossed in the twilight dim; The sullen stream had no fears for him; But he turned, when safe on the other side, And built a bridge to span the tide. ``Old man,'' said a fellow pilgrim, near, ``You are wasting strength with building here; Your journey will end with the ending day; You never again must pass this way; You have crossed the chasm, deep and wide-- Why build you the bridge at the eventide?'' The builder lifted his old gray head; ``Good friend, in the path I have come,'' he said, ``There followeth after me today A youth, whose feet must pass this way. This chasm, that has been naught to me, To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be. He, too, must cross in the twilight dim; Good friend, I am building the bridge for him.'' Mr. Speaker, we owe it to our seniors to save Medicare. But, we owe it to our children to balance our budget.”