[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 94 (Friday, June 9, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H5755-H5756]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                     TRIBUTE TO THE DEPARTING PAGES

  Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Speaker, ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure once 
again to take the floor of this House at this time of year to say just 
a few words about the pages. This is their final day, and it is 
customary for us to say a word or two about the service that they have 
provided for us.
  I will have an opportunity to say a few words to them this evening, 
because I am especially privileged and honored to have been chosen by 
them to be their speaker at their graduation or end-of-year exercises 
this evening, and I promised them that I would not speak for more than 
an hour and a half this evening, so perhaps if I say a few of the words 
here this morning, we can cut it a little short this evening.
  I know that the pages have very mixed feelings about their departure. 
On the good side, they do not have to get up at 5:30 in the morning in 
order to get to school. They do not have to listen to more of these 
boring speeches on the floor of the House of Representatives. They do 
not have more flags they have to deliver to the offices.
  But I know they also are going to be missing this wonderful learning 
environment that they have been in and, of course, leaving behind so 
many friends that they have made. But I can tell you, and I speak, as 
the pages know, with some experience, having served here as a page many 
years ago, all too many years ago. We will not name how many years ago 
it was, having served here as a page all those years ago.
  I know that the friendships that you have made here will endure, will 
endure if you work at it, and I know the memories that you have of this 
will certainly continue. But, of course, it is the lessons that you 
learn from all of this that are important.
  You have had an opportunity to see firsthand how government works. 
You have had an opportunity to see the good and the bad of this place, 
the good and the bad that are in people, whether it is in government, 
in the House of Representatives, or any place in our 
[[Page H5756]] walk of life. The House of Representatives truly is the 
people's body, and it reflects in many ways the good and sometimes the 
bad that we see in our own society.
  So I want to say thank you this morning to each and every one of you 
for what you have done to make our daily lives a little better.
  I would be remiss if I did not particularly mention the two pages, 
and I am privileged to have two here this year, that have worked so 
hard and have been my pages, Francie Julien from Amphitheater High 
School in Tucson, and Nancy Grimm from University High School, and 
since they are mine, I mention them, but in mentioning them I am really 
mentioning each and every one of you for the wonderful jobs and the 
service that you have given us.
  You really do do us a great service. You know, it takes a huge 
operation to make this place run, to keep it going. There are people 
that are all over this House of Representatives and this Congress of 
the United States, from the very rooftop of this building to the bowels 
of the building, that, in an unsung way, keep the place going every 
day, and you are part of that, you are a very visible part of it. You 
are visible to the public as you make your way around this building 
delivering the messages and the packages and doing the errands that you 
do. You are very visible to us here on the floor of the House of 
Representatives. You play a huge role in making our lives easier and 
making it work for us. And that is why you are so important to us in 
that sense.
  But you are important to us in a much more important way, I think, 
that sometimes escapes the notice of you, and perhaps even of us. You 
are here as a daily reminder to us of what this work that we do is all 
about, because you represent the next generation of America, and I 
think that we need to be reminded daily that the votes that we cast, 
the votes that we cast to make sure that this is a sound government, a 
sound society for the future, the votes that we cast are done not for 
ourselves but for our children, for the next generation, and you are 
the next generation. That is, after all, what this is all about, 
maintaining the future of our country.
  So I wish you well in your endeavors in school next year and in the 
endeavors that go beyond that. Some of you, I suspect, well, I do not 
expect it, I guarantee it, there will be one or more of you among you 
that will be back here someday in the Congress of the United States 
serving in this body just as I have done, working as a staff person 
here on the Hill.
  So I do not have to say do not forget us. You will not forget us. But 
you have to do the work of keeping up the friendships and of 
maintaining the contacts and relearning the lessons that you have 
learned from here, of maintaining the involvement and your concern in 
government.
  You have a responsibility to take the lessons that you have learned 
here and will continue to learn throughout life and pass those lessons 
along to the next generation, for you, too, will be parents someday. 
You will have your own families, and that is the important, most 
important thing we do, not what we do here, not what we do in our 
workplace, but what we do in terms of passing the values of our society 
on to the next generation.
  You have made a very good start of it, and I wish you all very well, 
and I am looking forward very much for the chance to talk to you again 
this evening.
  Good luck, Godspeed, come back and see us.
  

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