“It is Finished” For Real this Time
To borrow a phrase from William Shakespeare, “parting [really] is such sweet sorrow” (2. 2. 199-200). I have heard Shakespeare’s line in Romeo and Juliet more times than I could very quickly count, yet I have never felt the weight of the enduring goodbye so fully as I now feel it. How do I say goodbye to something that has meant so much to me? How do I adequately express my abundant gratitude for a program that has offered me so much? How do I let go of something that I will always hold with me? I will do so with a sense of sorrow for what I am losing and a sense of sweetness for all I have gained. Leaving the Great Books Honors program is hard–Virgil leaving Dante level hard; however, it is also reuniting with Beatrice level joyful because I know that I have gotten my “head [a little bit further] into the heavens” via the soul and mind enriching nature of the program (Chesterton 13). One of the chief aims of the Great Books Honors program is to cultivate spiritual growth that activ...