Lin goes to bed that night after the fire in the slum, and wakes up a doctor! He has had a little training in first aid but the people of the slum are lined up looking for medical treatment.

I asked Greg that same question, here is his response to us.

GDR: Well that’s a good question and it gets to the heart of who I am and what I am. I was making my living at the time I went to live in the slum, and I made my living from one day to the next, by working on the black market trade with foreigners who wanted to buy hash or wanted to sell their passport ...what ever it was they wanted to do...they wanted to change the money on the black market for profit. So I was doing that and committing crimes and doing crimes. So I’d go back to the slum and every afternoon set up my little slum clinic and when I was confronted with this on the first morning when I woke up after the fire I fell asleep and woke up and the guys are sitting there looking at me and I said “What’s going on guys?” and they said (at this point GDR does a spot on Indian accent) “Oh sir, your patients are waiting to see you.” And here they were. I went outside and there were all these people lined up saying “Good morning Doctor, Good morning Doctor.” “You see I’m having broken arm Doctor, you can be fixing for me” and so you look at that, I think for most people the instinct would be...woah this is too hard or you can look at it as I do and say I cannot walk away from this. These people need...there is a need here. And that need has arrived to confront me and so I am going to do it. It’s for me the same thing if you like when I was a junkie. When you’re a junkie people overdose all the time and the standard reaction when people overdose is to quickly scramble, get your stuff and leave as fast as you can because the cops are going to come, the ambulance guys are going to come, you’re going to get into trouble. My instinct was to give the people CPR. I’ve been an ambulance driver, I’ve learned how to do this. I’ve done first aid courses and I just couldn’t walk out and leave them alone even though I knew there was a chance that the police might come and then there would be a hassle for me because I’m taking drugs and whatever else. I just couldn’t leave those people and I never lost one. Every person that OD-ed that I worked on, I brought back. So on the one hand I have it in my nature that I’m a fighter and I’m ready to fight and I will fight if I have to. In prison when men attacked me with knives, I fought back and I stabbed them, cut them until the were on the ground screaming “all right I give up, I give up, stop, stop, stop”
And then I stopped. It’s not my nature to go on and inflict injuries but if I’m attacked? I’ll defend. I am a fighter, it’s my nature. BUT my nature is also to heal and to help as much as I can and I can tell you faced with that life in the slums, treating those people and living there, there’s not many who would have done it, especially not if they were on the run with a price on their head.

1) How do you think it changed Lin? What did this scenario do to move the story along and build the multi-layered character?

2) How do you think you would have been affected by this had you been Greg? How would you feel about people depending on you for their health?

I love this part of the book! And GDR's comments about the experience are priceless! He's right ~ not many people would step into the role of Slum Doctor.
But then, not many people would find themselves at that particular crossroads!

I suppose the key is training...that's the thing that makes a person feel competent about doing anything, yaar? GDR/Lin had some training in CPR and First Aid. And Lin had the First Aid kit, which I found a most unusual item for a fugitive to take along on the run - I never would've thought of that! (or the clown hat! :lol: ) So he had the toolkit, as it were, and he had some training.

And, once again, he couldn't say 'no'! This time he couldn't say no to the obvious need for someone to respond to the slumdwellers and their nightmarish situation. The fact that Lin was willing to respond with the few skills and tools he had made me see him as someone who represented the true meaning of the word compassion. That combination of courage and kindess kept me hanging in there, on his side, throughout the rest of the book.

For me, personally, the only thing I can equate Lin's situation to is when I was working - waaay back when - for an airline and had been trained to perform emergency evacuations. Thanks goodness I never had to use that training, but if I had been called upon to perform, I would've done so almost instinctually, because I knew what to do. Feeling responsible for other people's health and well-being can be overwhelming, but it helps if you feel confident about your own abilities...you own strengths...and your own limitiations. Like Captain Jack says, it's all about 'what a man can do and what a man can't do.' We run into trouble when we don't know where those boundaries are... Likewise, we run into trouble if we never test them!

Being "volunteered" to be the doctor gave Lin a purpose and a focus. The story may have stagnated at this point had this role not been assigned, keeping him in the slum. He reconnected with his compassionate self instead of the fighter. It brought him outside himself and his own survival for just a little while.

I certainly agree with GDR. I would have said, whoa, I can't do this, man.

I am no good at all in a crisis situation. My family can count on me but I am not at all cut out for that type of responsibiblity in general.
Go bleed somewhere else!

Seriously, I'd try to help, but I wouldn't be much good at all.

I agree with Amp that functioning as a doctor gave Lin a renewed purpose in life and made him feel good about himself so he could heal-to me in the beginning of the book-he has lots of regrets and does not really like himself. As an RN I have had lots of contact with ambulance drivers and most of them have a good heart but for some reason were unable to complete further training in the medical field but they are able to remain calm in an emergency and focus on what exactly needs to be done. I teach community CPR, AED, and first aid for all age groups so that my students will be able to save the life of a loved one and anyone who needs help-recognizing that an emergency exists and calling 911 is the best option for someone who is not sure what to do. B)

I can't really add to what's been said. Thank goodness for some of his medical training! Working in the school system, I've also been trained in First Aid/CPR which I think would help me in a crisis. It's amazing what the brain/body will do when presented with am emergency situation. I also agree that working with the slum people gave Lin a perspective about the people----their generosity towards him having this clinic was very touching to Lin. Here are these people that barely have enough for themselves, but would "pay" Lin by doing or leaving little items for him. That has to make you think about one's purpose of helping those less fortunate than them.

Thanks for all of the interesting comments.

-Donna

Well, here, in this senario, Lin is compelled to do something out of compassion for those worse off than he is. I think it's a kind of pivotal point in the book, where he chooses to help others instead of running away. Then when he meets up with the Khader bunch, he increases his 'layers', and increases his ability to 'do good', in a 'safe' enviornment of people who will be able to protect him.

If I had been Greg, I'm not sure I could have lasted that long. I probably would have given my supplies to them, and gotten out.
As for people depending on me for their health, I've taken a few first aid courses, and have just received my Certificate for Special Education, which also includes how to maintain personal safety in unsafe situations. So as for taking care of others, since I've just been trained, it doesn't bother me so much. I'll also be part of a 'team' so it's much easier in that regard. Out there in the slums, it would only be me, and many more people that I'd be prepared to help.

This will be quick and simple - but I have to wonder if it is simply a case of Lin is (underneath it all) a good man. He has the tools, such as they are, and some training. He has some ability to help the people in the slum and being a good man has no choice but to help.

I don't know that I could do it. I have some first aid training and know CPR and would be able to do something in the event of an accident or an emergency. But to live among people and be needed in such a big way, day in and day out... it would probably be beyond me.

Sometimes I think in cases such as these that we sort of revert to doing what has to be done as best we can. And that's what I think he did. Lin chastised himself for running from the fire when others were running towards it, remember?

Right, and later he said every seemingly selfless act of charity and good deed doing has a dark side....

A strong and noble man! :wub: