Epilogue

This is where this story ends. Steve Mitsunami and Jenny Robinson, despite taking the beginning steps of a long journey, don't quite have everything figured out yet. They are certain of things which they will later find out to be false, and they are clinging to old ways without realizing it (or even wanting to realize it). But they've made a fundamental change in their lives, a change which will lead to more and deeper Joy, that inexpressible sense of wonder and wholeness that comes from the Lord of love. Steve and Jenny haven't just joined a social club, or chosen a different world view. They've taken the first steps toward surrendering themselves to a higher authority, to love and truth. They will eventually give their lives to each other and to God. They've come closer to the ultimate reality, drawn in by it's beauty.

If the story were to continue it would have to began detailing the struggles they have adapting to their new outlook. It is impossible to say, with any real justification, how their life together will turn out. That life lies out there in the Undiscovered Country, the future. They will get to explore it together, but they aren't guaranteed any particular outcome.

Still, it might be fun to speculate a bit. They may have children. Steve is pretty bright, and if he can overcome the prejudicial barriers to advancement that are built in to his company's promotion process he may rise quite high. On the other hand, his new found interest in ultimate truth is bound to make him even less promotable than he already is, so in all probability his career will be over when he makes senior engineer. Jenny will hopefully avoid the mistake boomer mothers have made of putting career above all else and make room in her life for love and family. Then again, there is a fair probability that there can be no biological family, and she may be faced with a decision between adoption and no family at all. Somehow I don't think she's going to devote herself to ever increasing profit for Highly Profitable InkJet Inc. Whatever their future is, it will probably all be fairly conventional. Nothing really out of the ordinary, except that their love for each will be an exception, not the rule in our troubled society.

And our society is truly troubled, here in Corvallis. The ancient life of the hunter was unpredictable and dangerous, yet we feel less secure in the middle of our plenty, more alone and more isolated than he did. Our spiritual crisis manifests itself in the inability of institutions and individuals to renew themselves. Without a basis, without metrics, without a yardstick to measure ourselves against, how can we hope to get better? We simply cannot let our rational self give in to what is the hubris of our time, to believe that truth and reality are totally expressed rationally, that nothing which the mind cannot formulate is of value to the human spirit. The only loss that ultimately matters in life is the loss of faith, the loss that comes when life is lived without serving something larger than ourselves. On this vital aspect of life, most citizens of our fair city are clueless.

Selfless love is real, and it has an origin. Through the birth of Christ, there was placed at the disposal of the spirit of man the greatest of all things: the splendor of love. We in America have forgotten this, have denied it. Michelle and her outlook define the world in which we live. Steve and Jenny were fortunate enough and open enough to follow His clues out of that world, admitting to their need. Despite their failings, they are examples to all of us.