Yesterday, my morning was going along just fine until I decided to sit down and log onto Facebook. That's when I saw it. A post telling me that Marvell Smith had died in a motorcycle accident. NO! It could NOT BE! My heart sank and shock and sadness hit me immediately. I had just been talking with him a week ago and had been thinking about getting back to him this week to talk more about photography. It was unbelievable to me that he was gone, just like that. I instantly felt a great loss.
As I read the post on Facebook, it was evident that Marvell had an incredible effect on many people. Comments of love and support were pouring in. What was it about him that made him so well loved? I've thought about it and realized that it was his ability to make any person he was talking to feel important. He always responded when I talked to him and he never ignored me or made me feel like I was less than. Very few people have this gift. Marvell had a lot to offer because of his incredible talent and he could have easily pushed people aside, but it wasn't his nature. I told him I wanted to learn more about his style of photography and he invited me to come shoot with him. I now regret that I never stopped to take the time to actually do it. He was always extending his help to others and willing to teach others everything he knew. It's not something you typically find in such an accomplished person and it made a deep impact on all those who knew him.
I want to express my gratitude to Marvell for making me feel important and for offering to help me even though he was so busy. He saw and felt things that many of us miss. He saw the details in life. He saw emotion and feeling. He saw people. We are literally left without his vision and there is a loss that is indescribable. Who will see what he saw? There is no other like him. Maybe that is the beauty of life though. We come, we go. We leave our mark. I am so grateful for the mark Marvell has left behind. I have decided to try and be more like him. To love without condition and to give without concern of receiving anything back. To really see others and to pay attention to each one of them as he did. What a great example he has left for so many.
Marvell, I'm sure that you were welcomed with open arms on the other side of the veil. The empty arms you have left here will ache, but your loving memory will soothe and comfort those aching arms until we all meet again. May you know how loved you are and may God bless you and your family.
