[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 15]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 21767]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                       TRIBUTE TO EARLINE McCLAIN

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. JOHN J. DUNCAN, JR.

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 15, 1999

  Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, Earline McClain, one of my constituents who 
has had a very distinguished career in education, has written a poem 
that I hope will be read by a great many people. It expresses some very 
important ideas about our Nation and how each of us has a 
responsibility to treat each other with respect and humility.
  I have enclosed a copy of the poem, entitled ``Think,'' and would 
like to call it to the attention of my colleagues and other readers of 
the Record.

                                 THINK

     Take a look at yourself. What's made you so bereft Of human 
           concern? Why have you not learned That all people have 
           worth and no one on this earth Has the right to heap 
           scorn on any person ever born!
     Label them as you may; call them black, trash, foreign, 
           migrant or gay You have no right to say they are 
           inferior, to feel superior; You are human, and so are 
           they!
     What's a migrant worker? Surely not a shirker But strangers 
           in this land, doing all that they can To eke out a 
           living. Others should be giving All that they can 
           afford. Things are not ours to hoard!
     Never should one deny others the chance to try To better 
           their condition. When you are in a position to offer a 
           helping hand, When you're called American, you must 
           fully understand What makes up this ``free'' land. 
           America's a melting pot And if you heat it up too hot, 
           so anyone is scorched or burned, A painful lesson 
           you'll learn, all people are God's concern!
     When you don't give, but hoard, think of one born in a manger 
           When your neighbor's ox is gored, your ass is in 
           danger! You are your brothers' keeper and involved with 
           him much deeper Than you may want to be. When another's 
           plight you see,
     Think: But for God's grace, that's me or His Grace may yet 
           let me be, For He controls our destiny and how I treat 
           others, He may treat me.

           

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