“In March of 2016 I went to Haiti with a medical group and was overwhelmed by what I saw in terms of the poverty, the hardship, and the courage of the Haitian people. One moment really sticks out in my mind. We had turned a corner, and there was a pile of trash several feet deep. I noticed first a dog digging in it, and then I noticed the man digging in it. I was just kind of speechless. I didn’t know how --- I couldn’t even think of a way --- to put that into a context I could understand, based on my life. Weeks later, I was home and had gone back to my usual routine. I went to get a manicure and was sitting on my back porch looking at my thumbnail, which had gotten smudged a little bit after the manicure. I was sort of pouting about it, and then I thought, ‘My God. A couple of weeks ago I was seeing a man competing with a dog digging through trash, and here I am back in Memphis in my advantaged life, upset about my thumbnail.’ I was stunned by the contradiction there and the sense that through no fault of his own, that man lives his life --- and through no credit on my part, other than God's grace and good luck, I’m living my life.”
Ruth Mulvany is retired from her position as Associate Professor of Physical Therapy with the University of Tennessee Health Science Center.
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