Sunday, June 8, 2008

The meaning of Easter

Saul made a regular habit of bringing her a tulip. Christina could barely resist the sight of the purple flowers – especially because they came from a man in pursuit of her. But there was one irony she never noticed: Saul picked them from her husband’s garden every time. Saul had other devious qualities she would come to know as time went by. But as for now she was enjoying herself.

It wasn’t that she thought her husband, David, would never find out. Him knowing about her infidelity hadn’t yet crossed her mind. She actually believed she loved David very much. She missed him deeply. But as more time went by, she thought of him less and less, until eventually her memory of him became two dimensional and faint. It didn’t matter that she kept photos of him in the bedroom and living area – indeed, almost every room in her downtown apartment. Waiting for him had become cumbersome and tiring. She couldn’t quite envision how wonderful their new life would be when he returned. She had desires, and wanted them satisfied immediately – even if it meant settling for someone less – like Saul. Saul was an ex-boyfriend of Christina whom she broke up with because he was abusive. David had always loved Christina and ended up marrying her after she left Saul. In the time of David’s absence, she found herself reverting to her past attractions with Saul.

David knew Christina’s desire for city life. He shared that desire with her and couldn’t wait to establish them in New York – where he had a job waiting for him when he got out of the Army. But he couldn’t tell her when he would be back to get her. He didn’t know. The Army had extended his enlistment because of the war in Asia. Christina only knew David may return anytime between a few weeks and fifteen months. But since David’s departure, a week had barely passed before Christina started meeting Saul at the local cafĂ©.

David and Christina’s twins, Ruth and Joseph, were too young to know what was happening. Indeed, even before they grew old enough to walk, David had returned to his unfaithful wife and the ugly mess she had created with Saul. David forgave Christina and continued to care for her year after year. All seemed to be forgotten.

Christina had given up Saul when David returned – but there was one loathsome and peculiar habit Christina retained annually. It stemmed from her adulterous relationship with Saul. Every year, on her anniversary with David, Christina would go out to her husband’s garden, pick a single tulip, and place it in a vase on the kitchen table – just as Saul often did for her. The action was insulting on multiple levels. Not only did it defile their own anniversary, but the very flower used for this purpose came right out of David’s own garden. This became a routine Ruth and Joseph grew up accustomed to, without even understanding the meaning.

Eventually, after the twins became adults, they retained their mother’s “tradition” on their parent’s anniversary by plucking a purple tulip from their father’s garden and displaying it in their own homes.

Years later, after David and Christina died, Joseph found an old letter written by his father, David. It addressed Christina and its contents revealed her infidelity with Saul. It had been written to Joseph’s mother, not long after David returned from war. In specific details it confronted her offenses starting with the tulips and ending with the affair.

Joseph was grief stricken. Learning of his mother’s infidelity was shocking enough, but realizing he had kept symbols of it (the tulip) every year in his own home was overwhelming. In zeal for his father’s dignity and past wounds, Joseph ceased picking tulips and displaying them on his parent’s anniversary. When he approached his sister Ruth, he explained everything so she also would cease displaying the symbol of their mother’s offense as well. But she saw things differently.

This was a long maintained tradition in their family and even her children had grown accustomed to it. “No,” she said, “I will not stop this tradition. The tulip may have started as a symbol of mom’s offense, but it now represents who we are. It is a harmless symbol purified by our family as a way of honoring our parent’s relationship.”

Joseph couldn’t understand Ruth’s clear conscience over the matter. No amount of time or ignorance could ever permit him to display a tulip after he understood the original meaning. But it has remained with his family generation after generation, because Ruth insisted upon teaching it to her children as an act with a concealed meaning.