We can all do more

Good grief, these are frustrating times. And the self-centered, me-me-me attitude plaques way too many people.

Unfortunately, these egotistical maniacs wear their feelings on their shoulders and are not shy about letting it all hang out no matter where or who is around.

Thank goodness we call Habersham County home. In our community, people still ask how you’re doing and really mean it. However, we’re not perfect, but what community is?

This past Saturday I had the opportunity to put my compass to good use. Driving as far as I could in the Altamaha River Swamp, I parked, placed my rifle over my shoulder and began slipping through the woods, due east. Reaching a magnificent Overcup Oak tree, I took a seat against its trunk.

Then, for the next couple of hours, I scanned the ridge. It was the opening day of deer season.

These days, it seems the more still I sit, the faster my mind tends to run. Finally, my mind took a knee on Dr. Dale Threadgill who was the advisor for Leadership Georgia for 35 years.

Dale was a great friend who was taken too soon by pancreatic cancer last December.

While thinking about Dale, I thought about Will Allen Dromgoole who was one of his favorite poets. Dale’s favorite being “The Bridge Builder.”

And by the time I stood up from the base of the Overcup Oak, I had decided I wanted to share it with you.

The Bridge Builder

By Will Allen Domgoole

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 fear 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 will pass this way;

You’ve crossed the chasm, deep and wide, -

Why build you this 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 this bridge for him.”

Do you ever ask yourself how can I make my community, state and world a better place? And how are you investing in our future? I’m talking about our youth.

Something to think about. We can all do more in our own unique way.

Alan NeSmith is the chairman of Community Newspapers Inc. Reach him at 706-778-4215 or anesmith@TheNortheastGeorgian.com.