This Substack newsletter from Blue Ear Books features occasional articles from authors of the books we publish. This newsletter is free, but consider supporting our work with a modest paid subscription. “Haiti is a place for big questions,” an intelligent American woman said to me nearly three decades ago, in Haiti. Paul Farmer, who died unexpectedly on Monday at age 62 in Rwanda, found his calling in Haiti. People talk a lot about how skilled a physician and public health innovator Farmer was. But his real importance lies in the fact that no one ever asked the big questions more incisively or stubbornly. What makes him an awkward hero for the rest of us is that he asked a lot from human beings, beginning with himself. As Tracy Kidder put it in his bestselling book about Farmer,
We read his book about Haiti and have it here but parts of it were just to painful to read. He was a fantastic guy who did wonderful work and really really cared. There are few like him.
Hey Jonathan - I think Farmer himself might say that you're not excused from reading something just because it's painful to read :-) Yes indeed, he was a fantastic guy. But too, he would say - rightly - that the fact that there are few like him is not his problem, i.e. that any of us could be like him, each in his or her way, and indeed should be. Whether we're brilliant or talented or fortunate enough to attend Harvard Medical School is not within our control, but whether we're attentive and compassionate and willing to invest our selves and our resources in helping repair the world is.
Ethan thanks for sharing.
We read his book about Haiti and have it here but parts of it were just to painful to read. He was a fantastic guy who did wonderful work and really really cared. There are few like him.
Hey Jonathan - I think Farmer himself might say that you're not excused from reading something just because it's painful to read :-) Yes indeed, he was a fantastic guy. But too, he would say - rightly - that the fact that there are few like him is not his problem, i.e. that any of us could be like him, each in his or her way, and indeed should be. Whether we're brilliant or talented or fortunate enough to attend Harvard Medical School is not within our control, but whether we're attentive and compassionate and willing to invest our selves and our resources in helping repair the world is.