Pandora's Finale Part 2

Not quite the couple, but you get the idea.

     Elegant white dresses and sharp, black tuxedoes-- the chapel was filled with around fifty or so people, all eyes beholding a man and a woman at the pulpit in front-- teary-eyed and filled with love.  It was a time of amazingly great joy!  All in attendance had felt that same emotion-- or at least a piece of it-- radiating from the couple.  The ceremony culminated with an exchange of vows, the sealing of rings, and lots of kisses.

     Kind of on a tangent, here, but it was there that I realized that the wedding ring symbolized one, never-ending union-- the circular infinity had brought to me a newer insight on the significance of marriage.

     Anywho, going back to the story, at that wedding, I learned a buttress to what I had previously written about.

     I'm not going to reveal any identities, but before the wedding, my companion was practicing the piano for a musical number with another person-- let's call her Alexa.  In a conversation, she had sarcastically implied that the marriage between the couple was money-driven.  Of course, still, it was of a joking attitude, but it bothered me a great deal-- I already had a preconceived notion that Southern Californians were the most shallow, greedy, and conceited people on the planet, so this didn't help to dissolve that image.

I'll name them both "Tiffany"

     When the actual marriage too place, I saw the couple-- goodness gracious!  The age discrepancy was quite odd for my teenage eyes.  There were illegitimate/former marriage children on both sides.  "Oh, great.  That girl was right.  We have another gold-digger over here.  This is going to go downhill really fast."  That preconceived notion made itself very known to me during that wedding ceremony.

     "Shoot.  I'm a missionary.  Why am I thinking such terrible things?"

     At that point, the elderly  man on his stroller, "I do"-ing his younger, middle-aged bride, the two had kissed, embraced, and began to share their vows with the audience.

     Essentially a testimony of love, what this couple had uttered during that small period of time had brought me a lot more peace and closure in my soul.  This couple had love burning in their eyes-- evident through the words in their lips.  In my heart, a feeling of hope for this couple had imprinted itself.  It was then and there that I had realized that I shouldn't have been so cynical-- not the first time, too.

Agree on the common ground you share with others

     Let me reemphasize this message of optimism.  We have to realize that people exist on this planet to benefit other people; people  have done more for other peoples' benefit than anything else-- God being the only entity having done more.  So with that in mind, our society-- our multicultural society-- cares for each other, no matter how unlikely it seems.  We have to hope-- we have to know that.  The motive of man is out of a sincere desire to help. to love, and to be altruistic.


     With such a naïve notion, one may ask, "hey, just last week, my so-called friend gypped me of a hundred bucks!" or even, "my friend threw me under the bus!"  Yes, betrayers and evil people may exist, but we have to think them as exceptions to society--

People are kind, beautiful, and awesome people!  

If some bad experience occurs, we have to keep firm with this knowledge of the awesomeness of others.  We cannot let the cynicism build up in our hearts, lest we want to turn into Pontius Pilate-- or even Squidward in that sense.

Curmudgeons aren't fun.

     We'll find happiness this way.  An eternal smile with a few letdowns is a lot better of a life than an eternal frown with a few noticed good things.  Have hope.  While I'm still trying myself, it's definitely given me a better outlook on life-- and of others.

     I can tell you right now that God loves optimism.  He is optimistic, even though He has to deal with imperfect people.  How frustrating it is, but He trusts us and has hope in us.  For those with kids, is it not the same?  Kids make a ton of silly, sometimes bone-headed mistakes, and it's frustrating!  But we still love and care for them because we believe that they'll grow up and learn from it.

     Society is awesome.  If you don't think so and need a word of encouragement, feel free to ask me!