Dr. Paul Farmer died last week in his sleep at the age of 62. There have been several articles about him in the press but not much in other media. He is one of my personal heroes and has been such for some time. I am pleased that Duke University included a profile of him in their Alumni Newsletter Weekly email. He was a graduate of Duke in 1982 where he received his bachelor’s degree in anthropology. His medical degree is from Harvard. He was a former trustee of Duke University, speaker at graduation, and his daughter graduated in 2019. He was a founding member of Partners in Health, resides in Rwanda, and was profiled in Tracy Kidder’s best- selling book, Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World.
Farmer has brought health resources to the poorest regions of the world as a renown physician whose life has been devoted to the poor and the oppressed. He would reside in the same league as Mother Theresa, but he was so humble that most of the world did not know the full extent of his work on behalf of those who were underserved at every level.
He also possessed the ability to place his actions into the context of words that went to the heart of ethics. Hence, he has been a personal hero of mine and a reminder of what is the best in humankind.
I share three of his guiding principles that demonstrate faith and spirituality in action. Think of his words as we consider our ethical challenges in our nation and in our world particularly as the events in Ukraine play out. Think of how our nation could be so much more a reflection of prayer in action leading to social justice.
His ethical stance in life is summarized in one of his key statements: “The idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that is wrong in the world today.” Think of how that idea applies to the divisions in our nation and the ongoing nature to conquer the insidious nature of racism. Consider as well how they apply to what is occurring across Ukraine. If Paul Farmer were in negotiations with Russia, he would begin with that statement.
Farmer also wrote that, “For me, an area of moral clarity is; you are in front of someone who is suffering and you have the tools at your disposal to alleviate that suffering or even eradicate it, and you act.” This is the action that we find in the various bills to create a better world for all Americans that is the underpinning of President Biden’s agenda.
We have too often underestimated the real power of prayer that results in action. It is what Bonhoeffer, clergyman and anti-Nazi, referred to as prayer is action as he stood against Hitler and paid for it with his life. Paul Farmer had a more direct way to address the needs of those with so little who need so much when he said, “If I am hungry, that is a material problem; if someone else is hungry, that is a spiritual problem.”
One of the great truths of history that I taught in my ethics classes is that “ideas precede action.” Action is based in thought. We would not have America without the revolutionary ideas of our founding fathers. We would not have equality in our Constitution without the revolutionary idea of John Locke that “all people are created equal.” Likewise, we would not have the aggression of the Russians without Putin’s idea that human life is not to be valued, and a desire to return to the glory days of Russia.
We should be asking each day whether it be in our nation or in the world the following: “What was the idea that created that action, and challenge or support that basic idea as we say that it is “good” or “bad.”
Paul Farmer always “put his money where his mouth is.” What would our nation be like if we started with the three ideas of his that I mentioned in the above article? What if we as a nation and world agreed on his three ideas? What prevents that action to occur? Usually, it is a quest for power and a desire to give a little and get a lot.
Farmer’s ideas about life and a world view could form a different action in our land and beyond because he always lived what he said would be best for “the other” whoever that “other” happened to be.
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