Question answered by Karen DeIulis Hoch, Managing Director, Americas Region and Conferences at PTPI
3. Do you identify with any of the characters in Strength in What Remains? Who and why?
This is a difficult question to answer. I was struggling to find characteristics that I have that truly match a character in the book. I found more of a piece of me in each character, such as the tenacity to overcome obstacles in which Deo possessed, and not giving up on achieving a goal such as Sharon. But, there is one character who comes back to haunt me, so to speak, and that is the airport stranger that helped Deo at the Shannon Airport in Ireland on his first trip to New York. She assisted him in dealing with the police and arranged to sit next to him on the flight. In the end though, she abandons him when deplaning in New York. One comes to the conclusion that she did not want to inherit this huge problem of trying to help Deo, a frightened refugee. She demonstrated kindness to Deo, but yet that was all she was willing to offer. In her shoes, I’m afraid I would have done the same thing. This is something that I believe many Americans can understand based on our society of skepticism. I wonder now (after reading Strength in What Remains) if placed in the same situation as the airport stranger, would I behave differently? My hope and desire is that yes, I would.
The opinions expressed by PTPI staff and other book club members are entirely their own and are not necessarily the views of People to People International or that of PTPI’s Officers, Board of Directors and Board of Trustees.
Tags: Global Book Club, Strength in What Remains, Tracy Kidder
The author of Strength in What Remains, Tracy Kidder, posts about Partners in Heath & their work in Haiti on The New Yorker’s blog.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2010/01/dr-louise-ivers-partners-in-health.html
I agree. This is a difficult question to answer. Having said that I can identify a few more great people in the world who came out as better humans in the midst of suffering, may not be exact as of Deo’s. The people come to my mind right away are Mandella and Mahatma Gandhi. I am sure there are other people in the history. I have lived through difficult times/discrimination because I was not born to a right caste, did not have right color and did not belong to the right gender etc and etc. and I understand Deo’s situation well. If I were to be at New York Airport at the time without any doubt I would have helped him through. I Came to USA by myself and I know the feeling being all alone in a foreign country. I had the advantage of language- I spoke English and Deo did not. He was in a worse situation, he was a refugee. Since my coming here I have provided basic help/information for the people who have come to USA for the first time independent of their origin.That has given me lot of peace and has helped to heal myself. I admire Sharon’s courage and persistence. I admire Nancy and Charlie who took Deo in, and Paul Farmer who helped Deo to do what he wanted to do with his life.