HW 24 - Illness & Dying Book, Part 3

Tracy Kidder. Mountains Beyond Mountains. United States: Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2009.


Precis: My book centers around one rather spectacular man who possess the talent of healing and curing infectious diseases. The most honorable thing about him is that he uses his knowledge and talent to those who need it the most. Together, Farmer and I travel from Harvard to Haiti, Peru, Cuba, and Russia. He reaches out to many other foundations to help him and his organization on his quest to heal the world. He believes that "the only real nation is humanity", meaning that all of humanity should have equal treatment.  The name of the book is based on the Haitian proverb "Beyond mountains there are mountains" which is a metaphor that represents how problems and issues are endless.

Quotes:
"Never underestimate the ability of a small group of committed individuals to change the world."(Margaret Mead, Kidder pg.164)

The most common excuse individuals use to avoid making change is that they believe that they are not enough to make a difference. It is true that there are power in numbers but how are these numbers supposed to accumulate without one person leading the pack? When you think about it, most of the things that were made the status quo were established by a small number of people and influenced other people like a chain reaction. So, maybe it take that one person to speak up for change and make a new normal.


The problem is, if I don't work this hard, someone will die who doesn't have to. That sounds megalomaniacal. I wouldn't have said that to you before I'd taken you to Haiti and you had seen that it was manifestly true. (Paul Farmer, Kidder pg.191)

To make the changes you want to see in the world you have to make a lot of sacrifices, but these sacrifices should be wroth it once you see your vision come to light.

"In his mind, he was fighting all poverty all the time, an endeavor full of difficulties and inevitable failures. For him, the reward was inward clarity, and the price perpetual anger or, at best, discomfort with the world... "( Kidder pg.210)


I can see why he can grow so angry at the world because in his eyes, in mine as well, all the things he is fighting so hard for should have been already established. When you live in a world that chooses to be illogical and immoral, it's easy to be upset with it.


My thoughts:


This book was truely inspiring and made me think about the changes I want to see in the world. Farmer is truely commited to what he does and although there are many things I'm pasionte about changing, I really wonder how far I will go to make a change.  American society makes it easy for us to focus o ourselves and our personal lives which makes us forget about the big picture and whats going on around us. I admit to having that very fault, but after reading this book it made me think about what I really have to do to make change. The most important thing for me to do now is to build and education about all of these topics, which is why I am thankful for this class. In the future I will definitly be fighting for what's right.