By Zoe Scontras
Ring by Spring. The Cinderella attempt for soon-to-be college grads to find a husband or wife before the proverbial college clock strikes midnight.
I, too, once dreamed of stuff like glass slippers, Prince Charmings and gonging clocks.
I do believe that young love contains an element of idyllic romance. But from the old and wise, I have learned the romance of young love is fleeting and gives way to a higher form of love.
As my Greek ancestors taught, the highest form of love requires great sacrifice.
My grandfather said it best: “There are three rings of marriage: the engagement ring, the wedding ring and the suffering.”
That line would draw a chuckle from those who knew the secret of love and perhaps scorn from those who didn’t know.
However, beneath the humor of his quip is a lasting, unchangeable truth about love and marriage that ring-by-spring seekers’ heed before rushing in.
After youth fades and the flame of romance remains, it asks more of us.
I am not saying one cannot find a lifelong love at the ripe age of twenty, but ring by spring does a slight disservice to the highest of human bonds made between a man and a woman in which they profess to give completely and unconditionally to another without regard for oneself.
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The poets and philosophers are in agreement about the connection between love in suffering. In Corinthians 13, a popular reading at weddings, St. Paul tells us that a serious lover must place childish things aside to pursue love.
So, should you be so lucky to find your ring by spring, may you also be strong to endure the suffering love requires for it to last and reap its beautiful reward.
