Quote Paraphrase

Kerri McLean
9/29/08

He didn’t bristle, but his tone had an edge: “I feel ambivalent about selling my services in a world where some can’t buy them. You can feel ambivalent about that, because you should feel ambivalent. Comma.” (Kidder, 24)

In the book Mountains Beyond Mountains, I felt this quote was particularly interesting and had much significance, especially in the kind of world we live in now. I feel like this quote has two different perspectives to analyze it from, a doctor’s point of view and a patient’s point of view. What Farmer is saying is that he feels unsure or hesitant about having people pay for medical help when many in the world cannot afford to pay for it. I am personally torn about this statement and will explain further about I feel this way.
On one hand, I find it disturbing to know how many people in this world are denied the healthcare that they seriously need because of either lack of health insurance or because they simply do not have the money for it. According to Jenelle Castelli, author of “Open Heart Surgery,” the cost of open heart surgery can add up to sixty thousand dollars in the United States. Now for someone has nothing to their name, how can you expect them to pay sixty thousand dollars for something they direly need? I think what Farmer is doing is amazing. He is giving treatment to those who need it at practically no cost, and I think if there were more people in the world like Farmer, our world would be that much better. There are so many cases of people suffering and dying because they do not have the money to pay for medical care.
Now looking at this from a doctor’s point of view is where my discrepancy comes into play. Myself, going into the field of physical therapy helps me to relate to the doctors. I am going through seven years of hard schooling, which is nothing compared to what other types of doctors go through. Not to sound selfish, but I could not imagine going through all this work and coming out with nothing in the end to provide a comfortable lifestyle for my family and myself. Just saying that makes me cringe after reading Mountains Beyond Mountains and Altman’s article. I’ve further seen how unfortunate other people in the world are and I’m sitting here saying that I want to live a comfortable lifestyle.
The last part of this quote is “Comma.” Farmer used the word “Comma” at the end of sentences because it stood for the word he really meant to say after the comma, which was “asshole (Kidder, 24).” Farmer directed “Comma” at third parties who were comfortable with the existing distribution of money and medicine in the world. I am definitely not comfortable with the distribution of money and medicine in the world. I do not think that it is necessary for people to have more money than they even know what to do with while others are suffering to get by. Even though I feel this way, I still feel as if I would be put into Farmer’s category because I want a comfortable lifestyle. I am very unsure about how to take what Farmer is saying because I totally agree with him in the fact that no one should be denied the healthcare that they need. On the other hand, I do not think that people should be criticized for not spending every waking hour devoting themselves to medical help and have to physically exhaust themselves. I do however admire Farmer’s work and think that if people would just become a little more like Farmer, the world be that much better and slowly transform.