And I can imagine Farmer saying he doesn't care if no one else is willing to follow their example. He's still going to make these hikes, he'd insist, because if you say that seven hours is too long to walk for two families of patients, you're saying that their lives matter less than some others', and the idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that's wrong with the world.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of valuing all lives equally and taking action regardless of others' willingness to follow.
In this quote, Tracy Kidder illustrates the intrinsic value of every life by highlighting the determination of a character named Farmer, who believes in making sacrifices for others. It conveys a profound moral stance against the notion that some lives are less valuable, asserting that such thinking contributes to the fundamental issues facing society. The quote serves as a call to action, urging individuals to stand up for what is right, even if they are alone in their efforts.
In practice
During a community meeting about healthcare access, this quote can inspire discussions on the importance of equitable treatment for all individuals.
Many people find it easy to imagine unseen webs of malevolent conspiracy in the world, and they are not always wrong. But there is also an innocence that conspires to hold humanity together, and it is made of people who can never fully know the good that they have done.
He was a great patriot, a humanitarian, a loyal friend; provided, of course, he really is dead.
To depend upon a profession is a less odious form of slavery than to depend upon a father.
If a juror feels that the statute involved in any criminal offence is unfair, or that it infringes upon the defendant's natural god-given unalienable or constitutional rights, then it is his duty to affirm that the offending statute is really no law at all and that the violation of it is no crime at all, for no one is bound to obey an unjust law.
The Americans never use the word peasant, because they have no idea of the class which that term denotes; the ignorance of more remote ages, the simplicity of rural life, and the rusticity of the villager have not been preserved among them; and they are alike unacquainted with the virtues, the vices, the coarse habits, and the simple graces of an early stage of civilization.
Anything whose presence or absence makes no discernible difference is no essential part of the whole.
To be ourselves we must have ourselves – possess, if need be re-possess, our life-stories. We must “recollect” ourselves, recollect the inner drama, the narrative, of ourselves. A man needs such a narrative, a continuous inner narrative, to maintain his identity, his self.
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