What are We Waiting for?
by Nina Diamond
“I truly believe that my camera is an instrument of communication that can help build community. The lens is the eye of my soul, through which I touch the world and the world touches me.” — Mev Puleo
It’s one thing to find your life’s calling early, and quite another to have the guts to go after it full throttle. All this, plus a beloved at your side? You’re golden. If you’re religious, it’s almost as if God were lifting you up.
Mary Evelyn “Mev” Puleo traveled the world as an award winning photojournalist, then brought back images of the poor and suffering to be an activist on their part. She bore witness to homelessness and to struggles for social change - from Haiti, to El Salvador, to Brazil, and even to the streets of her hometown St. Louis - ever alert to how her work might bridge the gap between rich and poor, ignorance and advocacy.
But what happens if such an impassioned life is derailed by a terminal illness? What does that diagnosis mean - for you, those in your circle, and your faith?
With the muscle and delicacy that befit his subject, Mark Chmiel has written a formidable tribute to his wife’s life and premature death at 32, 21 months after her diagnosis with a malignant brain tumor. A kaleidoscope of everything from their love letters; to her photographs and interviews with leaders of the liberation theology movement; to the words she delivered before crowds of 90,000 at 1993 World Youth Day with the Pope; to song lyrics; this rich and remarkable book celebrates the life and work of a unique human being.
The Book Of Mev, however, is more than one woman’s story, or that of the husband she left behind. It offers an honest examination of what it means to be a person of devout faith in a time when the organized Church is plagued by scandal and division, and how - if one has the courage to absorb it - this profoundly changes one’s personal relationship to God.
Mev’s story also resonates deeply at a time when wealthy conglomerates influence as never before everything from economics, to politics and religion, to daily life and thought. From Islamic fundamentalists in the Middle East and Africa, to the religious right in the United States, religious extremism threatens to command the stage and the debate worldwide. In this shadow, Mev’s life and its determined, practical expressions of faith, are symbols of hope for the countless people alienated by such extremism who are all but invisible in the mainstream press.
Mark says, “For some people, cancer allows them to figure out what they’re meant to do with their lives. Mev had figured it out already. She was already pursuing her dream.” If for no other reason, her story has a lot to reveal to us about ourselves and how we choose to engage with the wider world. Are we fearless? What are we waiting for?