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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 just over five 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 their challenge the mission.
I
would have loved to have been granted a few brief moments with my cousin,
Molly.
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.
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