First Day, Initial Thoughts...
Over two thousand people are at this SLC. Amazing.
Walking into the main hall was an experience. Hundreds of circular tables covered with white table cloth, smiling people introducing themselves left and right, music in the background livening up the mood, and a state-of-the-art stage that boasted three large screens that captured the movements of our key speakers. I was impressed by the environment, but more impressed and inspired by the words of these speakers.
One speaker recited the poem "The Bridge Builder" by Will Allen Dromgoole as part of his talk. Indeed, people who do good work are truly bridge builders-- and I think it is more critical than ever to pave good paths for our youth, the future leaders of society. Here is the poem again!
An old man, going a lone highway,
Came at the 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."
Walking into the main hall was an experience. Hundreds of circular tables covered with white table cloth, smiling people introducing themselves left and right, music in the background livening up the mood, and a state-of-the-art stage that boasted three large screens that captured the movements of our key speakers. I was impressed by the environment, but more impressed and inspired by the words of these speakers.
One speaker recited the poem "The Bridge Builder" by Will Allen Dromgoole as part of his talk. Indeed, people who do good work are truly bridge builders-- and I think it is more critical than ever to pave good paths for our youth, the future leaders of society. Here is the poem again!
An old man, going a lone highway,
Came at the 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."
