Global Health, from a dog's-eye-view

OK, so I just finished watching the little clip from 60 minutes that shows Dr. Paul Farmer in action. It was interesting to hear his conversation with the press and with the people in Haiti. The video made him seem less marble statue of a great historical figure than what I created in my mind while reading Mountains Beyond Mountains. I can't imagine myself doing what Farmer has done. It brings to mind all that Joseph Smith did during the relatively short period of time that he was on the earth.

The discussion on the "Farmer religion" causes me to think of the passage in the old testament (Matthew 19:16-22) where the rich young man, who has kept the commandments, asks the Savior, during what may have been a PPI, what he needs to do to gain eternal life. Jesus tells him to live the law of consecration and follow Him. The young man sorrowed because he had "great possessions." We have committed to live the law of consecration, or at least be willing to live that higher law. I still feel at times like a poor college student (though we will be getting a LCD HDTV this week to help "stimulate the economy") so though I think I would be able to give up all my material possessions, I don't think I would be able to give up so much of my time and talents as Farmer has. Especially when it comes to family time, like several of you have mentioned.

My desire to do more and have a greater impact on a larger population prompted me to walk away from private practice, where I was helping individual families by taking care of their pets and livestock, to research, where I hope my efforts can positively affect the lives of millions of people and animals. I think it is great that Farmer is able to have that world-wide influence and also still have that one-on-one interaction with his patients; I miss that.

The idea of difficult/interesting circumstances building strong families is an interesting one. Stress can certainly help strengthen an organism, though it can also kill it. I think it depends on the type and degree of stress. In general, it seems like mothers are very protective while fathers allow, often encourage, the freedom and exploring kids, or at least my brother and I, seek out and often get bumps and bruises from.

So, enough of my random thoughts. I'll close my comments by listing a few random quotes from the book that I really liked, and the page number from the paperback edition.

• "We're asked to have tidy biographies that are coherent. Everyone does that. But the fact is, a perfectly discrepant version has the same ending." (p.54)
• "I imagine that many people would like to construct a like 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." (p.213)
• "You know, people from our background...we're used to being on a victory team, and actually what we're really trying to do in PIH is to make a common cause with the losers. Those are two different things. We want to be on the winning team, but at the risk of turning our backs on the losers, no, it's not worth it." "I don't care if we lose, I'm gonna try to do the right thing." "But your going to try to win." "Of course! We're not, you know, masochistic."(p.288, 289)
• "the idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that's wrong with the world."(p294)