Mountains Beyond Mountains

Just finished readings Mountains Beyond Mountains, a book about Dr. Paul Farmer and his work to eradicate TB and HIV/AIDS in some of the world's poorest regions. I was a bit underwhelmed by the book, but it offers a clear, even-keeled viewpoint on Dr. Paul Farmer - it doesn't evangelicize him. I chose to read this book because I knew Paul Farmer worked with Dr. Jim Yong Kim, the new President of Dartmouth College. The book also offers a very incisive look into JKY as well - his motives, his methods, his mindset.

This books follows up on something I've been struggling with a lot recently - how to make a difference in the world. Especially after I learned a bit more about JYK and what he did, I've been thinking more and more about what I'll be doing in the near future, after school. How can I positively effect change? I need to do something that matters with my life. Mountains Beyond Mountains reveals one (amazing, albeit extreme and controversial) way to do this - the Farmer method, doing everything and anything to help the individual on a mass scale. But it also shows how important other roles are as well - for one, the entire Partners In Health operation that Paul Farmer founded would have literally been impossible had it not been bankrolled (by the millions) by his contact Tom White, who owns a large Boston construction firm - far from medicine or microfinance or global environmental health or all those other Big Ideas that I ponder and that Matter. So the biography, since it is a biography about Paul Farmer, mostly goes to show how important the work of one person was/is, through direct action and hard work and perseverence. But I can't help but also take away the message that funding is so incredibly important to getting anything done. That, as much as Paul Farmer has done, incredible as it was, much of it would not have been happened without Tom White or other sources of funding. So donations do matter. It's not just an outlet for expunging that Catholic/Jewish/Christian/Buddhist guilt and getting some tax credit along the way. I remember someone (a professional in the Chicago area, I believe) saying that to me a few years back at some summer conference too. That one can only help change the world for real with money. But maybe I'm only wont to think this way because I'm priming the excuse for going into finance or some branch that won't Matter as much as what Paul Farmer has been doing. I really want to help Matter. The font change is to bring up the question of: do I just want to do something that matters in the world so I matter? How much does self-perception and ego play into this? I also very much wish I had seen Paul Farmer speak at our school last year. Priorities, priorities.

Lots to think about.