History of the Bridge Builder Painting and the IPCEA
“The Bridge Builder” — the personification of our profession…
The story behind The Bridge Builder painting…
In the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians (ACOFP) office hangs a painting which personifies the endeavors of the ACOFP and the IPCEA towards their missions in the world of osteopathic medicine and compassion for all people of the world. The poem incorporated was uncovered by a wonderful friend of the profession, Pat Patterson. Pat used this poem when he introduced Royce Keilers during his induction as president of the Texas Osteopathic Medical Association for 1984-1985. The poem was read and translated into a painting by an artist friend, Jaynette Spencer, who had received a senior artist of the year award for the state of Michigan in the 1980s.
It can best be explained by a depiction of the poem “The Bridge Builder” by using the personification of our profession. Thus:
The Bridge Builder
An old man, traveling a lone highway,
came at the evening cold and gray
to a chasm deep and wide.
The old man crossed in the twilight dim.
for the sullen stream held no fears for him.
But he turned when he reach the other side,
and build a bridge to span the tide.
“Old Man,” cried a fellow pilgrim near.
“You are wasting your strength with building here;
Your journey will end with the ending day.
And you never again will pass this way.”
“You have crossed the chasm deep and wide.
Why build you a bridge at eventide ?”
And the builder raised his old gray head.
“Good friend, on the path I have come,” he said,
“There followeth after me today
A youth whose feet will pass this way.”
“This stream which has been as naught to me,
to that fair-haired boy may a pitfall be ;
he, too, must cross in the twilight dim .
Good friend, I am building this bridge for him. “
—Author Unknown
桥建造者
一个老人，旅游一条长高速公路，
攻击晚上的感冒和变灰
到一个深坑深和宽。
老人在黎明的笨蛋中横过，
对被拥有的阴沉的溪没有为他害怕。
但是他在他到达其它边时转，
以及建立一座桥跨越潮水。
“老人，”一名伙伴的圣地朝拜者大叫走近，
”你随着这里的建设在浪费你的力量；
你的旅程将随着结束日结束，
以及你决不希望通过因此。”
“你深深地和宽越过了深坑。
为什么在黄昏为你建造一座桥？”
以及建造者举起他的老灰色的头。
“好朋友，在路径上我来了，”他说，
”在那里 接踵而来在我之后今天
一个青年其脚将因此通过。”
“这条溪，身为对于我的零，
跟那个公平有毛发的男孩愿一个缺陷是；
他也，必须在黎明的笨蛋中横过。
好朋友，我为他在建造这座桥。”
The IPCEA now contracts with an artist in Chengdu, Sichuan to produce the paintings which are presented to each of the teaching sites where new IPCEA programs are started.
We all are the bridge builders of the world.
Above is another version of The Bridge Builder, as commissioned by William J. Burke, DO, FACOFP and hangs in his offices at the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine (OUHCOM), Dublin Campus — serving as an inspiration to all.
