Dr. Gary told me, “A man becomes the creature of his uniform.” Actually Napoleon Bonaparte said that, but Dr. Gary quoted him in his medical in-service that we had onboard the other day. Napoleon meant that if you put a peasant in a military uniform, he will rise to the occasion and become a soldier. I have noticed this in my kindergarten classrooms as well. On my birthday I will often let my students dress as princesses/princes (or knights, since prince costumes are a bit hard to come by)…and let me tell you, when my little guys are dressed as knights, they are tripping over themselves to open doors and carry out brave duties for their teacher! I think that should be the new school uniform!
Dr. Gary however was not speaking of soldiers or knights. He was referring to our maxillofacial patients. When you have a physical deformity that makes others cringe or run or prompts others to tell you that you’re cursed, it’s often only a matter of time until you believe it yourself. These patients are suffering from benign tumors in their jaws and faces and while we hear the word “benign” and breathe a sigh of relief, it’s not a relief to those living without access to safe, affordable, and timely healthcare. A benign tumor is just as much a death sentence as a malignant one because you will still die, but it’ll be slow due to either suffocation or starvation.
I don’t usually attend the weekly medical in-services because as a non-medical member of the crew, I don’t need medical in-service hours for my occupation and I often can’t take the graphic photos and information that doesn’t seem to bother all of the medical staff, but is rough on me. But a couple times a year I do go to the medical in-service because Dr. Gary is speaking. He works daily, and has for the past 30+ years, to help provide safe, affordable (free!), and timely help for those suffering from maxillofacial tumors and it’s done with such tender love…like Jesus! As I stare intently down at the carpet in the international lounge so as to avoid seeing the graphic photos from the surgeries, I listen to Dr. Gary’s steady voice explaining how to make facial incisions where there are already wrinkles or lines in the face. I never would have thought of that. My thought is to just get the tumor out, but he thinks through every detail of how to make each patient look as “normal” as possible after surgery in order to restore them to their family, their community, and to give them a place at the table of the human race.
I heard words in that medical in-service that are completely foreign to me…words like maxillectomy, brisk bleed, bone putty, bone harvest. I’m much more comfortable with words like vowel segmentation, educational differentiation, one to one correspondence, phonemic awareness, but that’s what I love about teaching onboard the Africa Mercy. That same day I went to a phonics meeting, an Academy leadership meeting, a child safety meeting, and then I topped it off with the medical in-service. I love that I can be constantly learning and having my mind blown by what I get to do onboard as well as by what others are doing onboard.
I love living in a place where we are all becoming the men and women of our uniform – and I don’t mean our scrubs, deckie coveralls, and officer uniforms. Colossians 3:12 says, “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.” As followers of Jesus, that is our uniform. May we continue to become more and more the creatures of our uniform every day and grow to look more and more like Jesus.
