Laozi once compared people with high moral character to water, and thought that their moral character was just like water, that is, they were soft, that is, they stayed in humble places, and that they nourished everything and did not compete with others for profits.
Life is often not smooth sailing, and setbacks and hardships will always exist. The simplest difference between the strong and the weak is who has the power to change the current predicament under the same environment.
A person's combination of rigidity and softness is all in one thought, and only by combining rigidity and softness in life can he show his true qualities as a hero.
However, there is not only one road to victory in one's life. Having the capital of "the strong" and keeping the posture of "the weak" is the wisdom of life accumulated for many years.
Living in an ordinary world, it is difficult for us to associate someone around us with the word "greatness".
I especially remember that when I was a child, our village was a poverty-stricken village with a hundred miles of fame in Fiona Fang. There is no asphalt road in the village, many crops are saline-alkali land, and in some places nothing even grows.
The only primary school in the village was transformed from an old ruined temple. Due to disrepair, it usually leaks when it rains, and occasionally loose soil falls from the roof on sunny days. The desks and chairs we use in class are also made by carpenters cutting down trees planted by villagers themselves. They have worn out since they were used in our class.
Later, after graduating from primary school, my father, who had been working outside for many years, came back.
He led the villagers to tear down the ruined temple and build a two-story building with blue bricks and white tiles. He also built a courtyard wall and bought some new desks and chairs. At this point, our village has the first building that can really be called a "primary school".
Later, my father widened the path from our village to the town and paved it with asphalt. When it rains, everyone in the village goes to the town to go to the market, and their legs will never get muddy again.
In that era when I just advocated running towards a well-off society, my father's actions benefited the villagers so much that my father was publicly praised by the mayor and awarded the title of model. He smiled from ear to ear when he saw the award presented to him by the town.
Mom asked dad, "How much can such a certificate be worth? Are there any substantial rewards? " Father glared at him and said, "What substantial reward do you want? This is a political honor, do you understand! "
At that time, my mother and I really didn't understand!
But many years later, I realize that there is always a person whose ultimate goal is not just to live a good life for himself and his family. He has his own life goal and pursuit of surpassing himself, and this goal and pursuit can make his personality sublimate more perfectly and make his life more substantial and meaningful!
There is another kind of person in this world who is brilliant but persistent. It seems that his life is hard, but he knows exactly what he wants!
Paul Farmer, the hero of this book, is such a person.
Paul Farmer graduated from Harvard Medical School and holds a doctorate in anthropology from Harvard University. In a year, he only works in Boston for four months, and most of the other time, he helps the poor to see a doctor voluntarily in Haiti.
In the late 1990s, the US government sent 20,000 US troops to Haiti to eradicate the military government and restore the democratically elected government in Haiti. However, this coup involving the American government only overthrew an old terrorist regime and restored a new government supported by the United States, without alleviating the suffering of Haitians at all.
At that time, Haiti was severely polarized. On the one hand, it suppressed violence, on the other hand, it was poor people in Haiti, and the latter accounted for the vast majority.
There is a village called Kenji in Haiti, where most of the forests and large areas of soil have been lost, and the medical conditions are the most backward in western countries. Poverty, disease, soil erosion and famine are serious. This village is like at the end of the world, abandoned by the whole world.
It is such a poor and barren place that there is a large concrete building complex with a sign in front that says "medical partner". This is where Dr. Farmer works, including a mobile clinic, a women's clinic, a general hospital, an Anglican church, a school and a kitchen that prepares three meals for 2000 people every day.
In fact, there are several other hospitals with poor equipment in Jianer, but the fees are not low. Even patients have to pay for gloves, but few people can afford to see a doctor.
There is also a charge for seeing a doctor at a medical station called "Health Partner", which is about $0.80 each time, because Farmer's colleagues insist on doing so. Farmer is the medical director, but he didn't contradict his colleagues. He just directly subverted this policy. He stipulated that every patient must pay $0.80 to see a doctor, except those who meet the following conditions: women, children, the poor and the seriously ill.
In other words, in this place of Haiti, almost everyone can be free and everyone can come!
There are many doctors in the world, and most of them will choose hospitals with good medical conditions for fame and fortune. Although they occasionally donate their love, it is really a drop in the bucket for poor areas like Haiti. And no one really wants to change the harsh environment like Farmer.
Farmer actually needs a lot of money to set up this place called "medical and health partners", which comes from three parts: government subsidies, private donations and farmer's own donations. Among them, the biggest gold owner is a land developer named White, and his donation amount has exceeded10 million US dollars over the years.
To some extent, without White's help, Farmer would not have made any progress in saving the poor.
Poverty and witchcraft are the most common things in Haiti. People have tuberculosis, but they firmly believe that it is caused by a curse. This made Farmer deeply realize that we should not only care about Haitian patients materially, but also pay attention to their faith needs! Every patient who comes here to see a doctor, he will ask the medical staff to supervise the patient's medication, and will also give them a cash subsidy of five yuan a month to help those poor people improve their family conditions.
The locals commented on Farmer and said, "What a fucking saint!" They think Farmer is using science and magic to help them break the spell, not the disease.
It is such a promising young man who had many opportunities to work in Boston and enjoy the good treatment of doctors, but now he lives in a poor place like Haiti and associates with farmers in slums.
Just because he believes that sacrificing the ego and perfecting the ego is his ultimate mission in life!