i'm listening to mountains beyond mountains, by tracy kidder, which is about american doctor paul farmer and his work in the developing world, mostly in haiti.  i have owned this book for a LONG TIME, but as i've said here before, i have trouble motivating myself to read nonfiction in my free time because it requires more concentration than i want to expend when i read in bed, which is when the majority of my reading happens.  audiobooks allow me to get the nonfiction i want in a form that works for me.

i found this portion of the book so poignant:

farmer is asked, when traveling to russia to do work on a TB outbreak in russian prisons, "is america a democracy?"

farmer answers, "i think whenever a people has enormous resources, it's easy for them to call themselves democratic….americans are lazy democrats."

so so true.  i rewound the CD in the car and recorded this portion on my phone to transcribe here.  we are lucky in that we can be lazy democrats.  we don't have to fight every day for our freedoms.  we take them for granted.  the hard work was done centuries ago, with upkeep along the way.

i take my democracy for granted.  something to ponder and to appreciate.