To Jim, attempts at imitation would put the emphasis where it didn't belong. The goal was to improve the lives of others, not oneself. "It's not about the quest for personal efficacy," as Paul himself liked to say… "Paul is a model of what should be done. He's not the model for how it should be done."… "Because if the poor have to wait for a lot of people like Paul to come along before they get good health care, they are totally fucked."

Farmer didn't disagree. I was with him one time when he was stewing over an e-mail from a student who had written that he believed in Paul's cause but didn't think he could do what Paul did. Farmer said aloud to his computer screen, "I didn't say you should do what I do. I just said these things should be done!" Then he framed a mild reply.

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One time when they were together in Boston, White said, "You know, Paul, sometimes I'd like to chuck it all and work as a missionary with you in Haiti."

Farmer thought for a while, then said, "In your particular case, that would be a sin."

Tracy Kidder, Mountains Beyond Mountains