I remember the first time I heard about “Mountains Beyond
Mountains”. Another doctor in my mother’s oncology office had given it to her
to read. And my mom told me it was the story of a doctor who had started a
clinic in Haiti while attending medical school and a non-profit and really was
making a difference. So I picked it up one day (probably out of sheer boredom),
and began to read. I could never have predicted the profound difference that
this book would make on my life—how I see the world, the classes I’m taking in
college, my extra curricular activities, why I’m spending the summer (without air
conditioning) in Boston and what I want to do with the rest of my life.
It is obvious from the first four chapters that this is not
just a story about a doctor and a non-profit. Rather, it is a commentary on our
world today, on our society, what we value and how we treat other people—and
the movement that’s taking a stand against an injustice. And I think Paul
Farmer sums it up perfectly when he says, “the idea that some lives matter less
is the root of all that’s wrong with the world.” In the first four chapters, we
meet Dr. Paul Farmer through the eyes of Tracy Kidder. And we meet patients in
Boston and Haiti with the same diseases but very different situations. And we
think about a world where “we can spend sixty-eight thousand dollars per TB
patient in New York City, but if you start giving watches or radios to patients
here [in Haiti], suddenly the international health community jumps on you for
creating nonsustainable projects.” I
found myself agreeing with Dr. Farmer when he exclaims in the book, “if a
patient says, I really need a Bible or nail clippers, well, for God’s sake!”
This book is also challenging. It challenges our society and
asks hard questions. I understand Tracy Kidder (the author and narrator) when
he acknowledges that he avoided Paul Farmer for five years because Paul made
him uncomfortable, because Paul’s “way would be hard to share, because it
implied such an extreme definition of a term like ‘doing one’s best’”. What are
your initial impressions after reading the first couple chapters? Has the book
raised any points you never thought about before? What does it meant to “do
your best”? Do we have a moral obligation to do anything?
