Hwk 24

Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man who would Cure the World
By Tracy Kidder
Published by Random House Inc. in 2003

Precis:
Paul Farmer is known by many different titles; a professor at Harvard, a doctor, a disease specialist and an anthropologist. Farmer grew up in the United States, trying to overcome the struggles with poverty. Luckily Farmer became fond of diagnosing and curing diseased individuals with the help of the education he received at Harvard Medical School. By the use of modern medicine, Farmer treats those who are in need of a miracle. He makes house calls in Boston and Haiti to insure meaningful life to those in desperate need of health care.

From Harvard to Haiti, Doctor Farmer makes the reader aware of his love for taking care of the ill. He dedicates his practice to the philosophy which states "the only real nation is humanity". Farmer makes it his job to make his patients aware that hope is the golden key to life. Following the house calls Farmer makes is a clear example to the the Hatian proverb "Beyond mountains there are mountains." Once a problem is solved, surly another will follow and it too will need to be solved. The role of Doctor Paul Farmer is explicitly explained as Kidder travels with him to witness and almost feel for his passion of treating the ill.

Quotes:
“I imagine that many people would like to construct a life like Farmer's, to wake up knowing what they ought to do and feeling that they were doing it. But I can't think that many would willingly take on the difficulties, giving up their comforts and time with family.” (pg. 213)

Farmer happily devotes his life to cure strangers. I think the average doctors out there devote their life to care for others only during their shift where they play the role of a doctor. After their shift is over, their role as a doctor evaporates into thin air and they are suddenly relaxed at home surrounded by family. Farmer is apart from the average doctor; instead of having a shift that lasts a few hours, he devotes his whole life to be the doctor that is needed by many. I agree that we can't find many individuals that relate to Farmer as strictly when it comes to helping others.

“Paul is a model of what should be done. He's not a model for how it has to be done. Let's celebrate him. Let's make sure people are inspired by him. But we can't say anybody should or could be just like him.” (Pg. 244)

Farmer is a rare example of the doctor every society is in need of. He is a unique individual and it is almost impossible for one to become just like him.

"That's when I feel most alive"...."when I'm helping people". (Pg. 295)

It’s very rare to come across someone who is so serious about spending his/her time to make someone else’s life better...to make them worthy of living. Now a days we only care about our self…it’s just me me me. We always ask to be showered with care, but very rarely do we do the same for another in return. Our brains have become used to the idea of making everything in our life have some sort of positive outcome for our self. He eats, sleeps and breathes for one thing only, to give hope to the ill.

Thoughts:
The last third part of the book was okay; it was a bit longer than it needed to be. The stories helped the reader become aware of the common problem of illness many individuals suffer with. Illness is one way that connects us all; we have all experienced it or will experience it at some point in our life. Reading about Doctor Farmers travels to third world countries, I become aware that the number of those in need is nowhere near scalable to the number of those who are willing to offer their help. Many of us don’t have the same mindset as Farmer, we aren’t willing to take the extra step he does to change the lives of those who are ill. Because we are blessed with a healthy life in the present, we don’t show much concern for those in need. Reading the stories of those who struggle to live their life day by day made me realize that when our bodies are healthy we take our physicality for granted. We take it for granted because we rarely have close encounters with serious illnesses or death. Farmer is someone who sets himself apart from the average being; he makes every ounce of effort in to make someone else’s life worth living.

At one point towards the end of the book, many individuals claim that they would not be able to do what Farmer did. Farmer responds by telling them that that they don’t need to follow him by taking every step he took. They can go about finding different ways to make a positive impact for others. Instead of being given a set of rules to follow, Farmer makes himself in charge of creating his own set of guidelines. Unlike many doctors, he doesn’t show much concern with the income he makes with his profession. Alternately he finds interest in making a significant difference in the lives of others. If there were more doctors out there who had a similar mindset as Farmers, there would be a significant decrease of rejections sent out to those in desperate need.