A Universal Message in Mountains Beyond Mountains The suffering and misery of the poor and destitute has long been reported on and documented by writers all over the world. The circumstances and stories of the less fortunate are accounted by authors who sometimes distance themselves from the people they write about. However, Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder focuses on the work of Dr. Paul Farmer, a man who works tirelessly to comfort the sick and dying in the poorest countries in the world. Instead of being a simple biography about a wonderful man, Kidder weaves his own message of human rights into the book. Kidder successfully conveys his message that universal healthcare is a right a not a privilege through the words and
Kidder writes about how the unrelenting poverty in Haiti has directly led to the terrible health crisis that exists. Farmer even says that “meager incomes don’t guarantee abysmal health statistics but the two usually go together” (125). Infectious diseases spread rapidly in places where people are forced to live on top of each other like sardines. Sexually transmitted diseases are often a result of a lack of education about contraceptive methods. Farmer and his team don’t think the health crisis in any poor area is insurmountable. In fact they believe if sustainable living and basic health care are provided for people than many infectious diseases will cease to spread. One cannot read Mountains Beyond Mountains without feeling sense of guilt after reading of how Farmer devotes his life to helping the sick and destitute. Kidder expresses his amazement at Farmer’s results and methods but not at his calling. Kidder believes that all people are called upon to serve the poor in some capacity. Excuses are too often conjured up in America for not helping a country so close yet so far Kidder lays out a clear list of reasons why Haiti has suffered so much in a recent opinion editorial in the New York Times: “Haiti is a country created by former slaves, kidnapped West Africans, who, in 1804, when slavery still