Spread Conciousness
Mountains Beyond Mountains
Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder.
A book about Dr. Paul Farmer, a man who's basically saving the world. Worth reading ... today. A poignant reminder of how much we can and should be contributing - as well as the power we have as individuals to alter the current economic system so deeply ingrained in our society.
An excerpt:
Many times when I looked inside his house, his bed appeared unused. He told me he slept about four hours a night but a few days later confessed, "I can't sleep. There's always somebody not getting treatment. I can't stand that."
Little sleep, no investment portfolio, no family around, no hot water. On an evening a few days after arriving in Cange, I wondered aloud what compensation he got for these various hardships. He told me, "If you're making sacrifices, unless you're automatically following some rule, it stands to reason that you're trying to lessen some psychic discomfort. So, for example, if I took steps to be a doctor for those who don't have medical care, it could be regarded as a sacrifice, but it could also be regarded as a way to deal with ambivalence...I feel ambivalent about that, because you should feel ambivalent. comma."
This was for me one of the first many encounters with Farmer's use of the word comma, which was asshole. I understood he wasn't calling me one - he would never do that; he was almost invariably courteous. comma was always directed at third parties, those who felt comfortable with the current distribution of money and medicine in the world. And the implication, of course, was that you weren't one of those. Were you?
A book about Dr. Paul Farmer, a man who's basically saving the world. Worth reading ... today. A poignant reminder of how much we can and should be contributing - as well as the power we have as individuals to alter the current economic system so deeply ingrained in our society.
An excerpt:
Many times when I looked inside his house, his bed appeared unused. He told me he slept about four hours a night but a few days later confessed, "I can't sleep. There's always somebody not getting treatment. I can't stand that."
Little sleep, no investment portfolio, no family around, no hot water. On an evening a few days after arriving in Cange, I wondered aloud what compensation he got for these various hardships. He told me, "If you're making sacrifices, unless you're automatically following some rule, it stands to reason that you're trying to lessen some psychic discomfort. So, for example, if I took steps to be a doctor for those who don't have medical care, it could be regarded as a sacrifice, but it could also be regarded as a way to deal with ambivalence...I feel ambivalent about that, because you should feel ambivalent. comma."
This was for me one of the first many encounters with Farmer's use of the word comma, which was asshole. I understood he wasn't calling me one - he would never do that; he was almost invariably courteous. comma was always directed at third parties, those who felt comfortable with the current distribution of money and medicine in the world. And the implication, of course, was that you weren't one of those. Were you?
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