Virginia R. Martiny (1916 - 2012)

It isn't often that I post something intensely personal on these pages, but I felt the need to make an exception on the occasion of the death of Virg Martiny, a woman I have known for going on a half-century who has been my mother-in-law these past forty six years.  In all that time I cannot recall a single instance when she did not treat me like anything but a loved and valued member of her large extended family.

It is not possible to recreate in words the atmosphere here in tiny Allegany, New York since the news of her death spread through this community at the very northern end of Appalachia , so what I thought I would do is post the entry I made in my personal journal for May 25, 2012, the date of her death and in a curious juxtaposition of events, my parents' wedding anniversary.

*****

Virg Martiny,  my mother-in-law for the past forty-six years, died this morning surrounded by her children and their spouses.  She is mourned by many and when the finality of her loss begins to sink in, she will be sorely missed.  Virg's life mattered in a way that it wouldn't have had she invented the latest techno-toy, written the great American novel or made a hundred million dollars in a Wall Street IPO.  Yet while she will leave a void, she will not have left us completely, as her legacy will live on in the lives of her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, as well as in the countless hearts she has touched over the course of her long life. Virg Martiny had a big tent.

Virg lived through a myriad of social and personal change in her 96 years of life.  Born during World War I, she survived the Great Depression, lived through World War II, married a dairy farmer, absorbed the changes in Catholicism that came with the Second Vatican Council, saw the dawn of the space age and man on the moon, the battle for civil rights and women's rights, and the birth of the age of technology.  She has been a widow these past thirty years.

The hours after her death found the family talking about how flexible she was, about how seamlessly she adjusted to the major dislocations in her life.  But I would argue that what made Virg Martiny a great woman was that she was relentlessly inflexible where her core values and beliefs were concerned, values that crystallized into a view of the teachings of Jesus that made Virg who she was and explain why she meant so much to her family and her community.  She wasn't obnoxious about it, and she did not demonize those who disagreed with her,  but you always knew where Virg stood.  There was something deep within this strong, sometimes stubborn woman that people instinctively respected.

As a young farm wife living at a time when a woman who became pregnant outside of marriage was the object of ridicule and suffered social isolation, Virg not only refused to be a party to such ostracism but she actively embraced the woman involved. For Virg, the Great Commandment always trumped society's rules. She was in her own quiet way a woman ahead of her time.

What drove Virg were faith, family and friends. Her faith in God and the Church were real, not a pious abstraction.  How I know this despite the fact that she never talked about it is that she walked the talk, living her faith day in and day out, a living faith that was the key to every aspect of her life.

While Virg Martiny was not a simple woman, I found the path to understanding her deceptively simple.  All I had to do was open the Bible and go through Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, reading only the words and deeds of Jesus.  What I found in the words and example of Christ is the heartbeat of an unknown woman from a barely known small town who, over the course of her life, became a true disciple of an itinerant Galilean rabbi, Himself the product of an anonymous small town in rural Palestine whose legacy was fully alive 2,000 years later in the loving heart and generous spirit of Virg Martiny.

Democracy?

For the past 5,000 years Egypt has been ruled by kings, dictators, generals and the like. But no more.

I have been watching, on Egyptian TV, English language coverage of the election in that country.  It is quite moving to see the turnout, especially of young people.  Not so long ago Egyptians were in the streets willing to sacrifice their lives to make this moment happen.  Many of them did not live to see this day. 

Meanwhile, in our democracy, every effort is being made to suppress the vote.

What's wrong with this picture? 

What's on your plate today?

Normally we ask this question in the context of "how busy are you?" or "what are you working on these days?"  In today's posting the question applies to your dinner plate, and mine.

There has been a renewed surge in news coverage of our national obesity epidemic, interest triggered by a new study detailing the health care costs associated with obesity.  Current projections are that by 2018 obesity will add 344 billion dollars to the nation's health care costs.  Obesity is currently responsible for 21% of all health care costs in the United States.  The Brookings Institution is talking in terms of obesity releated illnesses overwhelming our health care system.  The Pentagon considers obesity a national security threat, as it is getting more and more difficult to rercruit healthy people.  I have heard concerns that should it become necessary to mobilize for a World War II type conflict, we won't be able to do it.

But it occurs to me that there is another dimension to our national obsession with eating.

There are hundreds of studies done every year about the allocation of the world's resources, including food.  I have seen reputable studies indicating that the world produces enough "calories," food if you will, to feed the existing population.  But every day close to 30,000 children die of hunger and related illnesses.  (I have not sought out the statistics for adults).  Many chronically hungry children will survive, only to go through life with diminished intellectual capacity and/or will suffer from chronic illness.

So the issue, for now at least, seems to be one of food distribution.  Today Africa, which once produced enough food to sustain itself, and the Indian sub-continent, are the biggest problem areas.

One has to wonder about the morality of our national lust for overeating, for more and more snack food, for more and more fast food, for bigger and bigger restaurant portions, portion sizes so large that we can't eat them, portions so big that we have to take the excess food home in a box, hoping that we will be able to find room for it in our refrigerators.