All of Us “Others”

There is a French play that contains a passage that might go on haunting you all week long if you let it sink in. In the story, all the good people are at the gates of heaven on the day of judgment. The gates are about to be opened, and the people can hardly wait to get in. We imagine what this would mean to them: to come to an end and realize that heaven is here and I’m here, and I’m about to go into my reserved place. And then a rumor starts. Even at the gates of heaven, it seems, stories and spread like wildfire. Someone says, “He is going to forgive those others too!” For a moment, the people are dumbfounded, speechless. Then they look at each other, and start to gasp and sputter in disbelief, all trying to talk at the same time: “After all the trouble I went through! If only I had known this, things sure would have been…