As a wife, mother, and scientist who has strived to live a moral and ethical life as a Catholic woman with loved ones of all faiths and beliefs, I was drawn immediately to Mary Johnson’s memoir, An Unquenchable Thirst. Many years ago, I, too, seriously considered entering the religious life, but the desire for marriage and children directed me to my own, unique path. What I have found in this memoir is the author’s profound love and respect for what I perceive to be God’s purpose for us on this earth ~ the recognition and appreciation of our own existence, what each of us makes of our own life here, and the proper acknowledgement of the existences, and choices, of all others. As the wonderful, Canadian composer, Leonard Cohen, poeticized, “Love is not a victory march, it’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah.” Life is not perfect. People are not perfect, not even Mother Teresa, but her imperfection has made her more accessible and lovable to me. Mary Johnson’s words invoke these sentiments, all the while reminding me that one’s own, authentic, love-filled life is the greatest goal, and gift, to which we can aspire.
The fundamental blessing that An Unquenchable Thirst provided me is the author’s gift of parsing and explaining human emotions, drives, passions, and experiences all from her own unique, personal perspective as an American woman who has lived beyond her geographical home and often beyond her comfort zone. Along the way of her experiences, she has shown a sense of adventure and great courage, all of which undoubtedly have influenced her intellectual and spiritual development. How the author applies her spirituality, intellectualism, and her precious humanism to her own life is what is so very interesting to me. I have learned abundantly from Mary Johnson, which enriches my life! Therefore, I would love to read more about the author’s current life and aspirations for the future, all of which I know must be divinely influenced by the experiences of her past that she so eloquently and unselfishly allowed us to share.
Mary Johnson’s memoir has not left me questioning my faith or belief in the presence and existence of God. On the contrary, her experiences and words have reminded me that we have been blessed with the gift of free will. Like the author, I choose actions and thoughts that allow me to strive to elevate the human experience, not to be a slave to the flawed, punishment-oriented, often misanthropic system of both the historical and present Roman Catholic Church. Each of us has experiences of our own. My experiences have reinforced my unshakable faith in Our Lord Jesus, His presence on our humble, relatively tiny, earth, and the knowledge He so lovingly conveyed about Our Heavenly Father. This is where my personal search of love has led me. My impression is that Mary Johnson’s intent is not to sway her readers toward one particular path or belief. Rather, I have the feeling that her goal is to encourage us to live our own, authentic lives. I am grateful to her for sharing her story with me, with us, and for making me want to keep her and her extraordinary thoughts and words in my life always.
Holly Haggerty Sokolowski is an auditory neuroscientist who received her doctorate from the Stanford University School of Medicine and post-doctoral training at the University of California at San Francisco. She worked for many years on the development of cochlear implantation and the physiology and pathology of the peripheral and central auditory nervous systems. For the past 18 years, she has been raising her family, and she holds an appointment to the Voluntary Faculty of the Department of Otolaryngology at the University of South Florida College of Medicine.