Farmer's time

I was thinking the other day about how my studies in grad school have been a little bit all over.  The central theme is generally tied back to religion, but I have done work on Bible reading, something akin to cognitive schemes, some criminology, some family stuff, and now I have moved on to sociology of medicine stuff.

This gave me a good excuse to read a classic in medical thought that is more 'humanistic' in flavor - Mountains Beyond Mountains.  The book is about Paul Farmer who seems to be one of those interesting people who is very shallow in terms of not hiding what is going on in his head but also massively deep and guarded so you never really know what is going on.  He is also a fierce advocate for those who are struggling in life and are stuck in a life of poverty.  I have been thinking about a section towards the end of the book when he is explaining to the author why he does not think it is a waste to spend tons on money on a patient who is likely going to die anyways.  He is trying to point out to the author the irony of saying that is a lot of money and possibly a waste but the same people never think about what it means to have more than that same amount of money in excess, sitting in a bank not healing poor people.

Then he has a great line.  I have had the same feeling before, although clearly not to the same degree as Farmer.  Mostly because it is fairly autobiographical for me, I imagine.  He says, "It's just, you know, I never have been able to figure it out. I mean, I've figured it out, but I realize no it takes so much time to get to that point, to explain it, without offending someone."

Sometimes it seems as if we look to easier arguments like political or fiscal expediency to cover the brute response of, "But Lord, who is my neighbor?"