Mountains...Discuss

OK Men. Time to put your muscle tees on (with pimp shirts, if necessary). Let's get this book club started. I was waiting for the person in charge of snacks to show up, but I'll start the discussion and maybe he'll show up before we're finished.

The Real Paul Farmer

As a sign that this was the right time to read Mountains Beyond Mountains, CBS 60 Minutes did a piece on Paul Farmer last week. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/05/01/60minutes/main4063191.shtml

If you haven't read the book, the following video will give you the basic ideas behind Paul Farmer's life and work, but you'll miss out on the depth of how difficult his work was and the philosphy that has driven this man. If you've read the book, you'll see some updates from when the book was published. After reading the book, I expected a man that walked faster and talked faster than the Paul Farmer in this clip. While I still have no doubt about the enormous amount of energy required to do what Farmer did, he seems more real, less super-human than in the book.

The Farmer Religion
OK, so here's the part that's really been bugging me since reading this book. Paul does not seem to be religious in the traditional sense of attending church services every week, but he is extremely religious in a more practical sense. Remember the scripture in Matthew 25:

"34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: 36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. 37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? 38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? 39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? 40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."

Well, Paul takes this stuff very, very seriously and spends all of his time and energy visiting the sick, the hungry, and people in prison. James called this "pure religion". Farmer is one of the few people in this world who always seems to do what his conscience tells him to do.

It's easy to come up with a lot of excuses for not being more like Paul Farmer. After all, not everyone can head off to Haiti. It takes lots and lots of donors to fund what he is doing. OK, on the subject of money, couldn't I/shouldn't I donate half my income to such causes? Paul Farmer goes to prestigious conferences in the same old black suit he wears everywhere. His concern for physical luxuries is minimal. I certainly have more money than I "need". But the budgeter in me and the dad/provider in me, won't allow for huge monetary sacrifices.

I have a family to raise. I have no skills that would be useful to the people in Haiti. I have a million other excuses. What Paul Farmer does just isn't practical, right? The whole premise of what Paul Farmer has done/is doing screams "screw what's practical...it's the right thing to do, so do it." He has spent his whole life fighting bureaucrats in the World Health Organization and other places that said is wasn't practical.

If Christ were on this earth, I imagine him acting as much like Paul Farmer as anyone else I can think of, visiting the sick and imprisoned, living on much less than he could, tirelessly working for others, though perhaps with less swearing. On the other hand, I could never see Christ in my lifestyle, working in an office for 8 hours a day, spending 5 hours on Sunday in meetings, or going camping with the Young Men and playing games around the campfire. Not that all of these things aren't good things. It's just that when put in perspective, they seem trivial.

Now, the author of the book isn't suggesting that everyone can or should be like Paul Farmer, which is nice because I couldn't be like him even if I wanted to. But I did feel like I should be doing something more "important", more world changing. Yes, I know that raising a family is important, but Farmer is doing that, too. My questions are: Given my current skill sets and circumstances, how do I find something important and meaningful to do? Why, despite giving 10% of my income and 10% of my time, do I not feel like my church contributions are important or meaningful? Or since I am unlikely to change my comfortable, lazy ways, can any of you help me justify my current lifestyle by assuring me I'm on the fast track to heaven, etc.?

Other Topics for Discussion

• What are the merits of raising large families under difficult/unusual circumstances? (Farmer was one of 8 kids and raised on a bus and then a boat.)
• As a child, Farmer yearned for his father's approval. If I keep my children always looking for my approval, will they be more or less likely to be successful? (My intuition seems to say that on average they will be less successful, but the chances of one of them becoming famous will increase.)
• How much are Farmer's clinics really helping when the root causes are bad governments? Is it really worth the monetary and emotional effort to save a couple lives when there are so many poor and hurting people that it is impossible to save them all? Isn't it like putting your hand up to stop a river?