Thoughts Jan. 12

Sorry for the mixed up order of my blogs

I thought I should write another blog, even though many of you may not read this until several weeks to months after I write this. It helps to write down my thoughts and share them with you even if I don’t get this posted for a whileJ. I was just composing a few emails and thinking about my time here thus far and I thought I should share some of my thoughts with you. I have had a lot of time to read while I’ve been here. At this point (January 12, 2009) I have finished 19 books totaling over 6,000 pages. I am also currently in the middle (or somewhere) of seven other books. Those 19 books span the various genres. Through that reading I’ve gained insight, had a laugh or two, cried, and overall enjoyed the momentary escape from reality. However, some books forced me back to my reality through their words and passages. I thought I might share some of those excerpts that I found particularly influencing in case any of you are having similar thoughts or experiences. One of the books I read was an anthology of medical literature. It was overall an enjoyable book, one that I had purchased probably a year before I left and had every intention of reading but never got around to doing it. Each individual story, poem, or essay had a point to make but I think it was the last essay that I enjoyed the most. Perhaps it was because the book was finally over (I get this strange thrill out of finishing a book and I started this one when I arrived in T-stan so it was especially exciting), perhaps it was because it was relatively short or perhaps it echoed what I was thinking about at the time. It was a ‘gentle reflection’ by David Loxtercamp entitled “Facing our Mortality: The virtue of a common life”. He wrote several things that I believe are quote worthy, “We [doctors, nurses] are relief workers in a refugee camp, supplied with an insufficient stockpile of loyalty, friendship, and love. It is ordinary human relationship we engage in, no matter how much is made of the gap in power or degree of intimacy” He went on to discuss community in a hospital setting and how he felt it was lacking, but had this to say about community, “The purpose of community (because, in an affluent age, we no longer need it for physical survival) is to remind us who we are. This message is refreshed every Saturday morning at public market, along the Fourth of July parade route, at yard sales, benefit suppers, community plays, and YMCA runs”. I believe, Loxtercamp was chastising doctors for their disconnectedness as many of the authors in the book I read did. He also noted that, “It is a shame, really, that doctors spend so little time in the communities where they practice. If we did, we might come to see our patients from a different angel, as real people on equal terms, capable of returning more than they receive”. This, naturally, made me happy because this is one of the prides of being a PCV. Finally, he noted, “If there are any heroes or saints left in the world, they are each of us at our best, responding to the worst that the world imposes. Like a photo mosaic, our lives create the ethereal outline of virtue. But it is in the individual faces, or parts thereof, that virtue becomes most worthy of emulation”.
One of the seven current books I’m working on is entitled Soul Cravings by Erwin Raphael McManus and was sent to me by my pastor from back home. His book is split into three sections and the section that I chose to begin with is entitled destiny. In one of his entries he writes, “All of us are called to a place we have not been. Our lives were always intended to be journeys into the unknown. The invitation is both personal and mystical. No one else may fully understand what you are being called to. You may not even fully understand. The path you must walk may appear to others as strange or unreasonable, but you know there’s more going on than meets the eye.” I do believe this sums up the beginning of my Peace Corps experience more succinctly that I could have.
In case you are really interested in the other books I’m working on reading they are: African Nights by Kuki Gallmann, Yoga 28 Day Exercise Plan by Richard Hittleman, At Play in the Fields of the Lord by Peter Mattheissen, Great American Short Stories from Hawthorne to Hemmingway Edited by Corinne Demas, The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman, and The Beach by Alex Garland. They are all good in their own ways and I’m reading each to fulfill a different reason. I just finished a romance novel in which the main character was an avid reader and had a book for every occasion – her breakfast book, her lunch book, dinner book, her relaxing book, her soak in the tub book, her night book, etc. I like to think I have something similar.
As always I’m sending you peace and love. I hope all is well with you and you are happy and healthy. Keep the letters/emails/packages coming and I look forward to hearing from you!