Great stories are ones that invite you into the totality of human emotions-joy, sorrow, love, hate, pain, and hope. One theme that is consistent in fiction and in real life is that love is a risk. It is a vulnerable emotion. When you love someone, whether it's romantic, parental, or friendship, there is almost always a guarantee that you will experience hurt and sadness.
The last three fiction books I have read carry this theme and have led me to think about the way that love endures through suffering.
The first, "Jayber Crow" by Wendell Berry, is a story that spans decades of a man's life. Jayber experiences loss at various points throughout his life and carries unreciprocated love in his heart for years. In reflecting on a time of war and its impact on the small town that he loves, he says, "I don't believe that grief passes away. It has its time and place forever. More time is added to it; it becomes a story within a story. But grief and griever alike endure." Grief endures.
The second, "The Long March Home" by Marcus Brotherton and Tosca Lee, tells the story of three friends who endure unimaginable horrors during World War II. This book is inspired by true stories about events that took place in the Philippines just after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Throughout the story, brotherly love compels these young men to fight for each other and sacrifice their very lives to protect each other. Friendship endures.
The third, "Where the Lost Wander", by Amy Harmon, tells the story of Naomi, a young woman who travels west with her family in 1853. The hardships that early settlers endured as they traveled the harsh landscape in wagons filled with everything they own is unimaginable in our modern day. They faced dangers of all kinds and learned to rely on each other to survive. A theme throughout the novel is that in loving people you risk pain and sadness, because the reality is that many loved ones didn't survive the journey. A beautiful line in the story is, "The pain. It's worth it. The more you love, the more it hurts. But, it's worth it. It's the only thing that is." Love endures.
In stories and in life, there is suffering. We only have to turn on the news or talk to friends to see the reality of that. We know it in our own lives. But, in spite of the pain, love is worth it. The joy, the laughter, and the unbreakable bonds outweigh the pain. And after all our emotions are spent, love will endure.
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