One of my favorite movies is "A Few Good Men". The movie is about several young Navy lawyers defending two Marines falsely accused of murder. In one of the scenes in that movie, Danny Caffey, the lead attorney for the case, comes stumbling into his apartment, soaking wet from the pouring rain and dead drunk. He announces to his fellow attorneys that their only witness just killed himself. Giving up on the hope of ever winning the case, he says, "Since we seem to be out of witnesses, I thought I would do a little drinking". Failing to succumb to his pessimism, his assistant Jo Galloway, replies, "You better put on a pot of coffee. We've got a long night's work ahead of us." She eventually tells him, "I still think we can win." He laughs and says, "Then maybe you should do a little drinking." At the end of the movie Danny wins the case when he follows Jo's advice to put an onery colonel on the stand and use carefully thought out tactics to get the truth out of him about what happened. (Hence the famous line, "You can't handle the truth!") A beautiful, inspiring story, but its easy to win a case when you're reading from a man-made, Hollywood script. Would things have gone so well in real life?
That scene reminds me of where we are now in the history of our country. Many people are feeling hopeless, like Danny. Realistically, there seems to be no way we can overcome the forces that seem to be against us. Like Jo, I still have the feeling in my heart that we can win. I still believe in the power in numbers and the power of advocacy and activism. I wonder if I am crazy. Then I remember my very own beginning.
Fifty-eight years ago today, I came into this world six weeks pre-mature. I had to defy the odds to even get here. After my mother gave birth to my older brother, Al, the doctor told my mom that she would never again be able to have another baby. Mom had a genetic abnormality that runs in the family. Some of the females are born with a male pelvis that does not open during child birth. They cannot give birth the natural way. The have to have all of their children by C-section which sometimes does damage to their uterus. Because of the position and condition of my mother's womb, the odds were against her even being able to conceive of another child. Even if a child was conceived, it would never be able to make it full-term in a womb with that much damage. The doctor urged my mother to get a hysterectomy immediately, and when Mom refused, the doctor yelled at her and said not to blame her for the disastrous outcome of that decision. Eleven years after the doctor said that, God surprised everyone by creating me! They found that somehow Mom's womb had re-positioned itself so that she could conceive, and they did not know how to explain that. That doctor that yelled at Mom and told her not to blame her for what was going to happen must be in heaven by now. I hope that God has given her a "window seat" view of me! But that's not the end of the story.
After Mom gave birth to me, the woman in the hospital bed next to Mom had a bad cold and the germs were passed onto me - a pre-mature baby! I quickly became ill - deathly ill, and I mean that literally. Mom said that I turned blue. The doctor said that I had a 50/50 chance of making it. Mom stayed up praying all night that night. She said that her experience of that night was like no other. The whole night went by in what felt like a few minutes. She watched the sun come up and had a certainty in her heart that she couldn't explain. She somehow knew that everything was going to be alright, though she had no evidence to prove it.
The next morning she walked calmly into the room with my father and the doctor to discuss options. The doctor said that they had to make a decision about which of two medications they could use to treat me. "Mrs. Myers, this is very serious!" the doctor admonished Mom, who looked a little too relaxed for the situation. "She is going to be alright." was all that Mom could keep saying. (It sounds like the doctors back in those days didn't get a lot of training in bedside manner).
My condition was so grave that they decided to do an emergency baptism right there in the hospital. One of the nurses stood for me during the ceremony that was quickly thrown together. Mom said that the moment the holy water was placed on my head I began to improve. The nurse who participated in the baptism said to Mom, "This child must have a very special purpose in life." Mom never forgot that, and she told that story to me over and over when I was a child, especially when we were going through difficult times.
I received the sacrament of the anointing of the sick again in my late thirties. It was at a special retreat for people suffering from mental health issues. I attended the retreat because I was having a bad time with my OCD. At the end of the retreat, the priest anointed all of us with holy oil. I was completely taken by surprise. The moment the priest put the oil on my head, a feeling of deep relaxation came over my entire body. It was not just an emotional reaction. It was as if he had injected me with a strong sedative. I never had a feeling like that before, even when I was actually being injected with a real sedative before surgery. Something supernatural had happened that day - something I couldn't explain. It was as if the oil and my body were somehow "remembering" each other! A short time after that retreat my mental health began to improve.
My very presence in this world is evidence that miracles still exist. Having multiple experiences with defying the odds, it makes perfect sense that such a person would believe that we can still win. I have learned that with God all things really are possible.
"Traveling lady, stay awhile - until the night is over, I'm just a station on your way, I know I'm not your lover."
From "Winter Lady" by Leonard Cohen (1967)
"I'm still standing better than I ever did - looking like a true survivor - feeling like a little kid! I'm still standing
after all this time..." From "I'm Still Standing" by Elton John (1983)
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