“In the Evening We Shall be Examined on Love”
-St. John of the Cross
And it won’t be multiple choice,
Though some of us would prefer it that way.
Neither will it be essay, which tempts us to run on
When we should be sticking to the point, if not together.
In the evening, there shall be implications
Our fear will change to complications. “No cheating,”
We’ll be told, and we’ll try to figure the cost of being true
To ourselves. In the evening, when the sky has turned
That certain blue, the blue of exam books, books of no more
Daily evasion, we shall climb the hill as the light empties
And park our tired bodies on a bench above the city
And try to fill in the blanks. And we won’t be tested
Like defendants on trial, cross-examined
Till one of us breaks down, guilty as charged. No,
In the evening, after the day has refused to testify,
We shall be examined on love like students
Who don’t even recall signing up for the course
And now must take their orals, forced to speak for once
From the heart and not off the top of their heads.
And when the evening is over and it’s late
The student body asleep, even the great teachers
Retired for the night, we shall stay up
And run back over the questions, each in our own way:
What’s true and what’s false, what unknown quantity
Will balance the equation, what it would mean years from now
To look back and know
We did not fail.
–By Thomas Centolella
My dear loved ones, the end is not a mystery. As a grief counselor, I’ve worked with death enough times to know that while the journey of life can be unpredictable and abrupt, the ending is not a mystery.
How does it all end? The answer is always LOVE.
Did you love? All the time, any time, as big as the universe, despite the pain, despite the tragedy, despite the sorrow, because of the joy, because of the swiftness of time, because of the laughter, because of the happiness, because of chances given, because of chances taken, regardless of who, what, where, when, how, despite war, violence, death, and in honor of being alive?
Did you love?
Perks of being a counselor: Constant and consistent reminders of the vital force of life and hope that LOVE is. In the end, that is all that remains.
Perks of Being a Counselor 