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There it was, in bold letters:
GATEWAY TO HEAVEN!
 The burial plots about the sign were beautifully kept, and the whole setting
produced a calming effect.
Then
this pointed head had another thought: viz-WHERE IS THE OTHER GATE?
I looked
all around that cemetery without success, and as I drove down the highway my failure deepened. Here was "Memorial
Garden" "Peace Park" and "Glen Rest", but no other gate.
"Gates
Ajar" provoked my curiosity but closer investigation showed all parties involved had the first place in mind.
The memorial tablets carried nothing but praise for the citizens of this city.
I was
reminded of the Chinese tale of the emperor who asked his wise man to devise a plan for national improvement. One
genius suggested that he kill all citizens then living, and resurrect the illustrious dead to take their place.
All the dead were wonderful people, according to the tombstones. Wishful thinking must be a universal substitute
for reality.
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Must we be so cynical? Believe me, dear ones, it is an effort to bring you
to a better hope. I know the desperate grasp for "peace, when there is no peace"; for assurance, when
our hearts are heavy.
But where
is that other
gateway?
IT MAY BE RIGHT THERE IN THAT FIRST SIGN. In empty words, in soothing assurance that comes from sympathetic friends
(whom we all appreciate) but who have neither right nor reason to offer such hope.
Have
these blinded us to the truth of our situation? By taking reality out of Hell -- in essence, by denying its existence
when the real show-down comes -- have we reduced Heaven to a verbal tranquilizer for the bereaved?
I have
never known anyone to object to the preacher saying a loved one had gone to heaven; but can't you hear the angry
cries that would go up if he said they went the other way.
"Strait
is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." Matt.7:14 Check
your ticket! You may be holding a pass for the wrong gate.
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