Choose any of the following ideas to reflect on in relationship to the work that we have been engaged in this semester in the community and/or class themes, other reading etc. Please bring in other quotes/examples from the reading to further support you points.
We don't all need to be, nor can we, be Paul Farmer. Each of us has our own, unique way of expressing our values and desire to participate in the world: "What PIH-ers should take from Paul wasn't a manual from their own lives but the proofs he'd created that seemingly intractable problems could be solved. . . 'Because if the poor have to wait for a lot of people like Paul to come along before they get good health care, they are totally [screwed]'" (244).
Questions of equity, who wins/who loses, long defeat or just doing what is right?
". . . triage isn't supposed to imply withholding care from anyone; rather it's identifying the patients in gravest danger and giving them priority. . . What else is a 'preferential option for the poor' in medicine?" (287). Yet, there are always the questions about the ways in which energy and resources are spent, as Farmer says, "I have fought the long defeat, and I'm not going to stop because we keep losing. . . sometimes we win. I don't dislike victory. . . [but] 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 common cause with the losers (288). On the next page, Farmer says, "I don't care if we lose, I'm going to try to do the right thing" (289).
Complexity and double standards/expectations:
"There's also a sociopolitical lesson to draw. . .'The woman who said to me years ago, Are you incapable of complexity? That was an epiphany for me. Are you going to punish people for thinking TB comes from sorcery? It's like a guy on our own team, a nice guy, who said he would help with a water project in a town here, but only if the people really showed they wanted it. What if that standard had been applied to me when I was a kid, before I knew that water could carry organisms that made people sick?" (291).
Also: "If you do the right thing well, you avoid futility. . .'You have to believe that small gestures matter, that they do add up'" (295).
Looking back at everything I have done for service learning for this semester, I realized that I did so much on my part. The things I have done may be small, but it meant a lot to the people I did it for. "If you do the right thing well, you avoid futility. . .'You have to believe that small gestures matter, that they do add up'" (295). Even doing the smallest thing can have a huge impact on someone and every little thing can add up to something greater. An example would be going to the gardens and picking food to bring to the schools. Our effort in picking the fresh fruits and vegetables gave the children something fresh and healthier to eat. We were able to provide them with something that they never get. Also bringing awareness and education to those who never thought about the school lunch issues can help to make changes. Everyone takes little steps to achieve a goal and every step counts. What I really liked most about my service learning experience was working together. “For myself, right now, I like the sound, like so many hearts beating through a single stethoscope” (298). I wasn’t the only one who was supporting everything we did for the schools and people who needed fresh foods. As Farmer did, I liked working together and building a sense of community. It brought everyone closer together and made the experience more entertaining.
ReplyDelete“How does one person with great talents come to exert a force on the world?”(296). It is without a doubt that Farmer is one in a million, but everyone has the motivation, drive, and compassion within them selves to some extent. “If you do the right thing well, you avoid futility… small gestures matter, that they do add up”(295). I believe that as long as you believe in what your doing and your doing it right, no matter how big or small your action it makes a difference and means something to someone. I also believe it makes a difference if you doing something out of the goodness of your heart or just doing it because you have to. If the ones you are helping actually feel like you are compassionate in helping them they appreciate it more and you are more successful. When I first started teaching at CCH I will admit my mind set was I’m just doing thing because I have to, but after the first class of teaching and seeing how much the teachers really enjoyed us coming I actually wanted to come back the next week and teach the kids. When I had come back the next week and felt like I wanted to come and teach because I wanted to instead of because I had to I saw a different reaction in the students. I saw that they were more interactive with us and they seemed to enjoying talking to us more. It made me happy just knowing I made a difference, even though it might not have been a huge difference, in at least one students life and makes me want to go back and help the kids at that school in any way I can.
ReplyDeleteEducating to Stop the Complexities
ReplyDeleteWe live in a world full of double-standards and complexities. For example, when Paul Farmer asks “Are you going to punish people for thinking TB comes from sorcery (291)?” The answer should be no! They cannot be punished for something if they simply do not know any better. Our world is filled with double standards and complexities and this will never change if we do not continue to keep learning and educating. If this class taught me anything it is that education is the key. Also, being open minded and being in a continual state of learning will help to stop these complexities previously talked about. For example, we cannot sit around and judge everyone around us for using plastic everything, if we did not already try and tell them about how harmful it is ourselves. Many probably have no idea how bad plastic truly is for the environment. Education and openness is the answer. Guaranteed that it was through education and teaching that many students in the current colloquium class started to buy organic or local. It is only with the tools of education that anything can be overcome. Jim says, “the world does not bind women’s feet anymore, [and] no one believes in slavery (175).” This is true for most of the world only through the power of education.
Be a leader, not a follower
ReplyDelete“I didn't say you should do what I do. I just said these things should be done.”(244)
This was a quote from Paul Farmer talking out loud about an email from a student saying that he didn't think he could do what Paul Farmer does. I agree with what Paul Farmer said here because we all can't try and do what one man is doing. Sometime in life we need to make our own path because not all of our calling is going to be things like what Paul Farmer does. I believe that we all have the power to make this world a better place, but if we choose to just follow we are giving up this power. Yes the world need people like Paul Farmer, but we don't need everyone to be like him. We need individuals doing there own part in making this world a better place. I think what Paul Farmer was getting at with this quote is he was just saying what needs to be done in this situation, but you don't have to do what he does. This is his calling in life, not everyones. We need people to pursue there own callings, not someone elses. I feel like this relates to our service learning thing because we all had our own projects to work on in order to serve our community. Had one all followed one persons thing we wouldn't have accomplished all the projects we did this semester. We get farther if we make our own paths, instead of everyone trying to all squeeze down one path in life.
Nobility
ReplyDeleteYes, complexity is underappreciated in our society. Sometimes we forget how complex life really is, as well as our society. There is no black and white to our complexities, as individuals, as a collective, as different species, ages, ethnicities, sexes and our ideologies. But one thing that is obvious is that there are those suffering more than others. There is a distribution of wealth that is uneven amongst people; there are those dying to live, those who keep themselves in a disconnected life of privilege and those in between. At the end of the day, it is really up to every person to believe in what they want – to believe that wealthy people have no connection to why the rest of the world is poor or to believe that there actually is a connection. If one believes that there is a connection, it is also on them to determine how brave they actually are or how dedicated they are to serving justice. The truth is the distribution of wealth is so uneven, it has been for so long, and that conditioning has become so deeply rooted into people that it has become easy for everyone to accept that the world is what it is now with no sympathy for the suffering.
I am personally moving towards social justice, picking my battles, trying to determine where I fit in all of this. Once a person learns about their interconnectedness with others, there is no turning back. I feel like Farmer feels this same way: “And I can imagine Farmer saying he doesn’t care if no one else is willing to follow their example. He’s still going to make these hikes, he’d insist, because if you say that seven hours is too long to walk for two families of patients, you’re saying that their lives matter less than some others’, and the idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that’s wrong with the world” (294). Farmer actually believes that there is something wrong when some lives are valued more than others. This is no less than humble – but I am afraid that not everyone agrees with him. If everyone believed what Farmer does, in my opinion, no one would suffer in the world. It is good to know that at least there are few people like him who are keeping this idea alive in the world. May he persevere, and may these thoughts one day spread like an epidemic into people’s hearts.