Jarrett Lee Lane Memorial Bridge

Over the past year I’ve attended a few too many ceremonies and memorials, most of which I have thought were a waste of time and didn’t come close to capturing Jarrett’s spirit and life. But, this week I had the privilege of attending a ceremony that I enjoyed. It was attended by people who played important roles in Jarrett’s life & mine.

The video below contains the most beautiful speech I’ve heard about Jarrett, given by his advisor/teacher, Marc Edwards. Following the speech, Craig Whittaker sang the song he wrote in honor of Jarrett.

The Bridge Builder
By Will Allen Dromgoole

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 a 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.”

Tags: Family, Insanity, Life, Narrows