by Rachel PughI am naive. I simply must be. According to some people I know in the newsroom, it is no new thing that derelicts case houses after reading a homeowner’s obituary. Also news to me is the fact that these same criminals will wait for any major event such as weddings to make their move.
Sickening. Disheartening. And enlightening. For just when I thought I had restored faith in the human race, I have now reconsidered this undeserving faith I have bestowed upon my fellow citizens. Such acts are animalistic, and for that behavior, I have no respect or hope that when given a troubling episode, must people would do the right thing, whatever that thing may be.
Recently, right before Christmas to be precise, a lifelong member of my church, Marge Hontz, passed away. Marge was my Sunday school teacher when I was a toddler. Although I would like to say I remember the stories taught to me from the Bible (which many I do), I must admit that I also remember the little baggies of candy she would give the class at the end of the lesson. Since Sunday school was before the church service, I would be reminded by my mom each week that I was not to open my baggy and eat my glorious candy while sitting in the pew. How grueling that hour seemed.
Serving as treasurer for some time at our church, Marge would also change the attendance numbers on our attendance board and record new births of our congregation in our log book. As a member of my church, I have known Marge literally my entire life, as do the rest of my family and many people from the Muhlenburg/Hunlock Creek area.
But Marge wasn’t just known within the Muhlenburg United Methodist Church’s walls. She was also known within the Times Leader as the “birthday lady” due to the fact that she would send birthday wishes to everyone she knew (and many she didn’t) in the birthday section of the newspaper. Feeling someone’s birthday is an important day, she would announce that celebration to the public. To make the day even more special, she would send birthday cards to nearly everyone in our community, from our congregation, to residents of the local nursing home, etc. Each year, I knew I would receive a card from Marge, most often adorned with stickers and usually abundant amounts of glitter that would fall from the card upon opening. I think there are many people from the community I grew up in who can say the same.
So you can understand why I was so thoroughly enraged when I received a call from my mother informing me that Marge’s house was burglarized the other night. In the short two weeks the family has had to grieve, they have not yet had time to go through Marge’s belongings and empty her home that has been in her family since longer than I know. And someone knew that. Someone knew that Marge, the birthday lady, the member of the Muhlenburg United Methodist Church, the church treasurer, my Sunday school teacher, passed away. And they stood to profit from this. For who would think that anyone would steal from Marge, that anyone would be vindictive enough to violate a deceased woman from Hunlock Creek’s home while the rest of her family tried to salvage their holidays while mourning for their loved one?
No one would do such a thing, right? Wrong. And since this tragic episode, something inside me, sadly, has fizzled. The world can be a cruel place. This I know to be true. But the world is not Hunlock Creek. The world is not the Muhlenburg Methodist Church. These sacred places are mine. They’re my family’s. They’re Harry Birth’s, and Cookie Walsh’s and Barbara Pissout’s and every member of my congregation. They do not belong in the hands of such filthy criminals who could violate a woman, her family, her community and everyone who loved her. Their worlds do not fit in our safe haven, we have no room for the like. And yet, they seep through. Their crooked plans and unthinkable vicious acts know no boundaries but rather stand to share their tainted ways.
And suddenly, just like that, my world has been invaded. Today, my naivety has been quickly penetrated with the knowledge I have so willfully fought against: the world is a cruel place. And that place has just become my own backyard. Thank you Hunlock Creek/Harveyville thieves … you have just altered a community and a mindset I have known to love. And although my faith in you has been discarded, I now have a new faith. I know now that you really are everywhere. That should make it easy for karma to find you.
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