As I sit here tonight preparing to create a daily blog for the first day of the week, my mind drifts back to a person and event from 12 years ago.
The date was
January 12, 2010.
The place
was the island of Hispaniola; comprised of the countries of the Dominican
Republic and Haiti.
The person
was a young lady by the name of Molly Mackenzie Hightower.
I never knew
Molly, but she was a distant cousin of mine. She had recently graduated with a
double major, spoke French, and volunteered as a physical therapist in a
Catholic disabled children’s orphanage in Haiti.
Although I
never knew Molly, the world has been given some entre into her life as the
result of an internet blog she maintained. I have also been privileged to
interact with her uncle, a Catholic priest, and her father and brother. The
photos of my dear cousin and those precious orphans are compelling. She was one
of those people you meet a few times in a lifetime; who literally seem to shine
from within.
Even in the
photographs an ethereal glow lights up her face.
Molly
happened to be in her dormitory when the earthquake did its worst work on that
impoverished island. While her family and friends hoped against hope that she would
be rescued, it was not to be. She was found several days later midst the rubble
of the dormitory. It can be said that she gave the last full measure of
devotion for the children whom she had grown to love.
Sometimes we
find ourselves taking people like Molly for granted. They sense a “call” to a
work overseas which 99.9 percent of people would shun; in favor of some
well-paying professional position in the states. They toil for little or no
pay. They work long hours; often without praise or affirmation. On their
occasional sabbaticals home, they attempt to explain to anyone who might listen
what they have done, what they have seen; their triumphs and their defeats. And
more often, than not they are met with a smile, or a nod, or a quizzical look;
rather than a few empathetic words based on any real understanding of the work
and the challenge of the mission.
Time to
assure her of the importance of her work, time to commensurate with her about
the joy which distills from the opportunity to touch lives, time to talk about
our mutual ancestors, and the possibility that they, too, were at one time
given the privilege of impacting this or that person, whom God set in their pathway.
As strange
as it may seem, I miss Molly; a dear relative whom I never had the privilege of
meeting. And yet, I feel I know her. And I’m all too aware that the staff and
patients of her beloved orphanage miss her in such an inestimable and profound
way.
I think we
will never understand why such lights among us are seemingly taken before their
time; when they are in the midst of accomplishing such a life-changing work, or
rather, lives-changing work, since this dear saint, and so many like her have
impacted a myriad of the unfortunate and underprivileged; whose only recompense
for services rendered was a bright smile, a hug or a few unaided steps.
They look
very much like you or I, and shun the limelight. Yet I think these are the
saints among us; (though any allusion to sainthood would, no doubt, be greeted
by them with revelry and blushing).
People like
Molly, though their lives were shortened, and though they have so often done
their best work in the worst places this planet affords, managed to cut some
indelible marks into the fabric of life and time.
And their
love and works remain.
And they are
not forgotten.
And the
power and momentum of all they ever did, and hoped to do continues, and has not
abated.
For lives
were irrevocably touched
…and changed.
And there
are those among us who have, because of them, stepped forward to fill the
vacant space which they have left behind.
The world is
better for people like Molly, who having walked and moved and served among us
…remain as
unseen witnesses to a continuing need, and the power of one life to change the
world as we know it;
…at least
the world as they knew it.
*Molly’s
blogsite can be found at: https://mollyinhaiti.blogspot.com
by William McDonald, PhD
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