From Beginning to End by Robert Fulghum

Author:Robert Fulghum [Fulghum, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-77597-9
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2010-12-14T16:00:00+00:00

UNTROUBLING TROUBLE

I mention these sobering matters not because I wish to address them in detail here, but because they were part of the consciousness of Mary and Jonathan when they came to see me, and matters of concern from the very outset of our conversations. “We don’t want it to be that way again for us—not the wedding, not the marriage, not the family life.”

They were eager that their wedding come in the context of the facts of their lives now. They wanted to do everything they could do to improve the odds for a meaningful, workable, satisfactory marriage. They knew what could go wrong. They knew where the big land mines were. They knew that weddings and marriage and life were all bittersweet affairs.

Their realistic view of the matters of marriage kindled enthusiasm in my own heart. I could really get involved in this wedding. I almost hugged them. If I had had a Roman candle and some sparklers in my office that day, I would have fired them off. Hooray for reality!

All progress in human affairs, and there is a great deal, you know, defies the cynics. And though I know it seems hard to believe sometimes, those who learn from experience often profit from their often-expensive education and don’t make the same mistake more than twice. The list of what we have learned the easy way is mighty short. Most of us do grow up, and in the growing up, wisdom somehow comes.

There is an essential truth about the rituals of life at stake here. A bedrock-granite kind of truth that should not be missed:

Reformation is essential to vitality in all rituals.

Everything that has life in it must change and grow or die.

The rites and ceremonies marking human events have evolved over time and continue to change, though slowly, slowly. Reformation did not cease with Martin Luther. Re-form-ation is ongoing, led by the needs of live people—and followed, however reluctantly, by organized religion.

The rituals change when the forms of celebration no longer fit our yearnings to celebrate the realities of present circumstances. The rituals change when we reach for a more authentic expression of our deepest human experiences. What does not change is the yearning.

This change is nothing new.

It has always been so, is so, and shall ever be so.

It is the nature of life itself, always forming and reforming.

It is neither right nor wrong—it is the way it is.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.