I met my friend Ann through swing dancing. She lives here in Chicago with her husband and she is in Medical School at the University of Chicago. Last Sunday she wrote this and I think that it’s very well written. Almost as if I were there, feeling and thinking and saying these things myself.

I know very few people who are this brave. Most of us are afraid of things that make us truly vulnerable. Ironically, I believe that life knows no greater fullness or significance than that which follows terrible sadness. And I think that most people - by their fears - inoculate themselves against ever really living.

It’s interesting to read and feel this against the backdrop of my wedding, which is only 24 days away. In one glance I see both the greatest celebrations and deepest injustices of life. I see a young couple in love who are devoting their lives to each other, and at the same time, I see an old couple in love whose dreams are abruptly cut short. Ann’s paragraph about the words “I’m sorry” is so vivid.

I have found a deep happiness in life. Right now it’s the time for Erin and I to celebrate, and believe me - we’re going to celebrate wholeheartedly!

But I still find this whole thing provocative; it really makes me think about life.
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This email just went out to pretty much everyone in my address book and I wanted to post it here as well:

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Jeremy Schneider
Date: Mon, May 19, 2008 at 4:52 PM
Subject: Wedding Announcement: 26 days!
To: Jeremy Schneider

Well if the word hasn’t made it out to you yet, I’m getting married! Erin and I began a courtship shortly after we met each other through a mutual friend here in Chicago; and this past January I proposed in a small 4-seat Cessna Skyhawk airplane, 2500 feet above downtown! The wedding will be on Saturday June 14th in Chicago.

Just last week we finished our website - with more pictures and stories!! The name is a little cheesy… but have a look around and leave a comment. :)
http://www.jeremyloveserin.com/

Though we’re keeping the reception small, we’re having an open ceremony and would especially love to invite all of our friends to a swing lesson and dance on the lakefront after the reception! (Think 1920s and 30s lindy hop and jitterbug!) If you’re in the Chicago area then come celebrate with us! The lesson starts at 8pm and directions are on the website.

Jeremy

This is a poem I wrote today, I think I’ll call it “The Dream”:

In most cases, people, even wicked people, are far more naive and simple-hearted than one generally assumes. And so are we.

America was a dream that is no more
although perhaps never truly a dream
or perhaps it was only a dream
but persistent nonetheless

the land-bridge followers, a few explorers,
dissidents, some aristocracy,
some brought against their will, some turned away
and still came anyway, driven or drawn

intoxicating, the allure of hope
from where did this dream come?

a great man urgently says i must act
i heard him just today, pleading with me
a man aged, wise, good-hearted and sincere
the elders say that we must save this dream

their generation, different from ours
depression, holocaust and vietnam
the unions, race riots and urban sprawl
and here, now - we begin.

a young man speaks, i often hear his call
the dream was fraud but we can make it real
if we unite for God and for the poor
these intellectuals speak much and act some
with faint echos of france, and many youth
and visions to redeem society

i’m caught somewhere between evil and good
to try and reconcile diverse things taught
i’m less inclined to believe in the dream
perhaps it was but i cannot attest
my world is new, and not the same as theirs

i ponder pharaoh’s death, the caesar’s fall
imagine chinese tanks, the russian wall
no dream’s immortal or eternal here
greatness is surely but a breeze, a glance
both men and nations

but certainly this never means the end
lest we forget that in the darkest lands
good men still live, if only quietly;
a cruel society is fertile soil
their blood is seed for many more to come
and persecution, rain for thirsty buds

and even still i find much cause for hope
though not where old or young tell me to look
but somewhere else.

and what will i believe when years have passed?
and what will last?