Modern Magi

Gifts of the Modern Magi
By Kate Chamberlin

I have been given the gifts of modern Magi.
The first came to me as I waited in a chair-lined hallway at Johns Hopkins University Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland.
I’d been referred there by my opthamologist for a confirmation of my rare eye disease.
I didn’t relish the thought of going or being blind and felt miserable. I stared at my hands clenched in my lap when the tip of a long, white cane and smart shoes entered my limited line of vision from the right. I looked up.
A well-coffered woman dressed in a fine tailored suit was being guided into her doctor’s appointment by a nurse.
The woman held her head up, her back straight and carried her cane gracefully in front of her. She had placed her hand lightly on the nurse’s elbow.
I didn’t realize it then, but the stranger had given me the gift of dignity.
I’ve often thought of her when I was in an embarrassing or demeaning situation. I’d stand tall and do what needed to be done with grace and dignity.
Several months after that brief encounter, I met another woman, Catherine Carnes, who became my role-model, friend and mentor.
The first time we met, she took me on a tour of her apartment building and a walk around the park. She used a guide dog. I had a lot of trouble keeping up with this octiginarian’s fast pace.
Catherine met each challenge in her life as a legally blind child with a sense of determination and humor.
Her motto seems to be: You can sit and feel life go by or you can join it.
She has a habit of giving a chuckle before sharing her story. She earned a degree from the Eastman School of Music, even though people told her she couldn’t do it; or maybe that’s why she did it! For many years after earning her degree she gave voice lessons and played the piano.
Catherine gave me the gift of humor the has gotten me through most of my trials and tribulations.
The third Magi to give me his gift was James Pritchard, Cannon to the Ordinaire of the Episcopal Church.
He’d come on an official Diocesan visit. As we shook hands in the receiving line, I wanted to say something comforting about his battle with cancer. I didn’t know what to say, so, I just thanked him for coming.
As I tapped my long, white cane away from him, his voice caught my ear. I wasn’t sure he was talking to me, but I turned back to look at him.
I was still close enough to see him.
His compassionate eyes embraced me conveying that he knew I saw past his smile. He knew I understood what he was going through as no one else here could possibly understand. Life has an “on-stage” and an “off-stage”. It’s okay to keep pain and suffering “off-stage”.
Those who were with him when he died said he was at peace and smiled to the end.
Jim’s gift to me was courage.
I know why I don’t feel the need to rage, “Why me? Why did I have to go blind?”
It’s because I’ve been given the modern gifts of the Magi: dignity, humor and courage.
What gifts have the Magi given you?
NOTE: published March 26, 1997, Wayne County STAR Newspaper