CAROLINE (WALKER) SCZWECK
2015-16 Traveling Fellow
Dignified Life and Death: A Global Perspective on End of Life Care and Decision-making
The purpose of the Keegan Fellowship for me was to recognize the universality of death across cultures and the dignity of the person at the end of his life, though expressed and viewed in many different forms. This topic is and was of great interest to me personally because it is one that affects the care of a person in the most vulnerable stage in life, approaching death, which I believe to be of infinite worth and therefore deserving of respect, love and compassion.
Blog: Dignified Life and Death and Tumblr
Hometown: Pittsburgh, PA
Majors: History & Medicine, Health, and Society
At Vanderbilt, Caroline was an Ingram Scholar and the Director of Mission Integration at Move a Mountain Missions, a Catholic non-for-profit organization that aims to help youth and young adults from the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh grow deeper in their call to service. Additionally, she spent her time volunteering at hospice centers and was published in the Linacre Quarterly: the official journal of the Catholic Medical Association tha primarily focuses on the relationship between medicine and spirituality, and in particular on medical ethics.
But it’s funny though, because if I challenge myself to think of one big insight, one overarching theme that has linked every aspect of this year, it would not be death– though that certainly is a great part of it– but that life is messy. Even as I write these words, I’m rolling my eyes at myself. Wow, what a stupid thing to say. Anyone could have told you that. But I think I would take things a step further. Life is messy, but the mess gives space for beauty and dignity and worth. The mess of life means the plans you had can change and even better things might be around the corner. The mess means failure is pretty much an inevitable, probably time and time again, but there is always room to adapt, grow and learn, and perhaps a failure isn’t even a failure at all but a plot twist in the story of one’s life. The mess means we can live paradoxes with integrity. We can be joyful even when we are grieved. We can love even when we are angry. We also can fail and ignore our mistakes. We can be selfish, yet have the best intentions. We can refuse to live outside of ourselves and refuse to consider other perspectives. We can experience a range of emotions all a once. We can accept that we will never have all the answers while still seeking truth. We can continue to live even in a war zone. We can address immediate issues while contemplating and working on deeper more sustainable change. Our hearts can grow to love more than a select group of people. We can be stewards of our environment while still being stewards of of human dignity. We can address physical suffering and also let go of our need for absolute control without losing our worth. We can be confused but still trust. We can be logical and rational while also creative and reflective. We can hope in the midst of suffering, physical, emotional and even societal.
- Caroline (Walker) Sczweck, 2015-16
TRAVEL STORY
I met a woman this week (week of August 28, 2015) crocheting a beautiful shawl. She had to piece the shawl together bit by bit as she made round, honey comb-like pieces and eventually began linking them. As I stood there in her hospital room, I was just in awe of her easy ability to create with such great detail and precision the patterns. (I myself, have created more than a few dysfunctional/crooked scarves whist knitting.) She told me that she was in her late 80s and that as everything else had begun to fail her, her ability to crochet has only improved. In her bag, she showed me some of her other creations and one in particular caught my eye: a knitted lavender winter hat with a large, intricate deep purple flower. Very 1920s chic. She laughed as I admired it saying, “Oh I could whip up a flower like that in maybe 30 minutes.” The jovial woman sitting before me simply emitted happiness and life. During our brief time together, she shared with me stories of hiding as a child during World War II and how crocheting became her hobby to keep her occupied and quiet. She told me of her work as a horticulturalist, her love of flowers and her wonder and awe at the world because from a tiny flower comes tiny seeds, only a small percentage of which will grow to become plants and from those plants at some stage in the circle of life, we get our food in order to live. I stood there in absolute awe of this woman and the privilege to sit with her even for a few moments. At the end of the day, no one really wants to be in a hospital, but if one sees the world as this woman does, nothing bad really could affect her because the good that she was able to perceive in the midst of pain or loss just outweighs it.
ITINERARY
Pittsburgh, PA, United States
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Wolverhampton, England
Cork, Ireland
France
Germany
Brussels, Belgium
Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Zürich, Switzerland
Rome, Italy
Stockholm, Sweden
Brno, Czech Republic
Poland
Jerusalem, Israel
Dassa-Zoume, Benin
Johannesburg, South Africa
Kolkata, India
Bayombong, Philippines
Okayama, Japan
Sydney, Australia
Portland, OR United States
