By Sarah Carlson, Copy Editor

I Am The Enemy

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

This is a lesson Dr. Trevathan taught me my freshman year when I took his Intro to Sociology class. I was still dealing with my best friend’s death from two years earlier, and Trevathan talked several times about losing a friend of his. I cried as he shared the struggle his friend went through before passing away from illness and his personal feelings on the loss, learning the emotions I was still feeling from my friend’s death were normal. I learned so much from his class about how I see the world and in how to cope with loss.

As Christians, it is good to mourn. I know it is easy to simply say after loved ones die, “We shouldn’t be sad because they are in heaven now,” but trust me, if you try to only have a sunny outlook on loss, eventually the depth of it will hit you. After a while, people move on and stop asking you how you’re doing, and you realize the person you loved is not coming back. If you have not grieved for them yet, you will become even more upset and lose faith.

It is OK to be silent, to cry, to question when tragedies happen. As Christians we have a faith that this life is not the end, but that doesn’t lessen the pain of losing someone we love. We shouldn’t ignore it, and through dealing with it, we will be able to move on. Not to forget, but to move on.

I don’t think we did Dr. Trevathan justice in Wednesday’s Chapel. The students did not know him as a Chapel nut, but as a professor, friend and mentor. We remember his almost eccentric behavior in class and the outlandish stories he told.

His class was one of my favorites at ACU. I remember him walking into class, swinging his golf club and sipping his coffee. I never knew him personally, never really had a conversation with him. But I didn’t have to. His personality, faith and spirit shone through his teaching, as well as his love for his job and his students.

I’m going to miss him.