a good memory is the best education

I've been thinking about change a lot - it scares me, thinking of how I might be someday, how people can turn into someone they never wanted to become. But then I stumbled upon this part of Fr. Danny Huang's graduation mass homily and it reminded me of how and why some things endure, why faith isn't always foolish, and why we are human - why, when we love, we try not to forget.


"...In the final chapter of his (Dostoyevsky's) great novel, The Brothers Karamazov, the monk Alyosha, the good and gentle brother, says goodbye to a group of boys he has befriended and mentored. They are sad because they must part. In their sadness, Alyosha invites his young friends to remember: to remember always the days of their friendship and camaraderie. I ask you to remember always, he tells them. Because, he says in a memorable phrase, a good memory is the best education. We will leave each other and go our separate ways. Life will happen to us and change us, sometimes, not for the better. But, Alyosha adds, if life tempts us to become cynical or bitter or cruel, if we remember these golden days of our friendship, if we remember how we dreamed together, how we were kind to one another, how we were good, then maybe, just maybe, that memory will save us, and draw us away from the forces of darkness that are always threatening to vanquish and capture us.

...May these memories bring you joy, bring you salvation, take you back home."