"My God, how can you say such a thing?" I replied. "Our getting together has been a miracle, every last bit of it. It is something that shouldn't have been possible at all, but it happened. It should have stopped right after the first few minutes when we were speaking to each other, but your love has allowed it to go on. My day has been so rich, Erica, that if it ends here, this day remains a miracle. I am not disappointed. Does one need more than one miracle a day?"

      She began to laugh. "I think you will agree, though, that a part of it remains incomplete," she replied.

      As the sad expression turned into laughter, she added. "It must be that way, Peter, because neither of us is prepared to deal with the consequences if we allow the next steps to unfold. The foundation has not been built upon which we can justify to our spouses what the next logical steps involve. We would both face agonies that would overshadow what we have shared. That's why we must stop here. Don't you think we owe that much consideration to our spouses, and to each other? We cannot force our spouses to accept what they are not able to comprehend. It would devastate my husband. His name is Fritz. He is a proud, selfish, and possessive man."

      "We will hold back for his sake," I answered, "but I can't see Sylvia in this light. I think, if I were to explain the principle of being honest with oneself, which brought us together, and the imperative of that principle in the context of your flower garden metaphor, I believe Sylvia would understand the logic involved and its logical conclusion. It maybe difficult, but I believe she would see our being together as a response to this principle of being honest with oneself, rather than as an act of dishonesty towards her. I think I can trust her to reach up that high in perception, even when others might not."

      "You really mean this, or are just saying this because it's hypothetical anyway," she interrupted me surprised.

      "Maybe, it being hypothetical takes the pressure off," I answered quietly. "Still, I honestly think I might dishonor her more by assuming that she is incapable of this kind of principle-oriented perception. Look, Erica, even I can understand the principle behind your metaphor, and I'm not a great genius by any means."

      "In this case, we are responding to two different situations. As for me, this has something to do with accepting responsibility," she replied. "Do you know what my definition for responsibility is?" she asked. "Taking responsibility means: To bless all, and to injure none. I cannot cause injury to Fritz even if this means that I have to stand before the Lord and confess that I could not fully comply with the divine demand to meet the human need of my fellow man."

      "I think you are speaking for me, too," I answered. "I never had to think about taking responsibility for such a thing, because it had never been required of me. Forgive me, because I have only considered Sylvia in this equation, and not its impact on your husband, Fritz. I had been faithful all my life to the boundaries that the narrow focus had imposed, according to our social codes. But now that the flower garden opens up a new territory for us, new responsibilities come to light with the new territory. We have to be careful not to tread on anything in the garden. This means that the Lord will have to pardon us both for not being able to achieve the ultimate," I suggested.

      "No, a pardon won't be possible," she said, sadly. "Someone told me, 'Divine Love never pardons our sins until they are corrected.' This means, there will be no reprieve until the work is complete. And so it should be, because we cannot benefit from the riches that we do not create. The simple fact is, Peter, we won't experience the riches that these final steps might have brought into our lives. We will never be able to experience the wonders of these steps unfolding, until they actually unfold and our love becomes complete. Only then will the last of the human needs be met and the task of love become fulfilled. But until that is possible we have a long road still to travel, discoveries to make, complexities to understand, infrastructures to build. Of course when we finally take the last step, it won't be anything extraordinary. It will be just another beautiful expression of our humanity."

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Stories about War from novels by Rolf A. F. Witzsche