An Imperfect Offering

Author : James Orbinski
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN 13 : 0802777570
Total Pages : 449 pages
Book Rating : 4.77/5 ( download)

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Download or read book An Imperfect Offering written by James Orbinski and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2010-11-01 with total page 449 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This book is a series of stories in which I ask, again and again, 'how to be in relation to the suffering of others.' It is a personal narrative about the political journey I have taken over the last twenty years as a humanitarian doctor, as a citizen, and as a man. This is a story about a way of seeing that requires humility, so that one can recognize the sameness of self in the other. It is about the mutuality that can exist between us, if we so choose. I have come to see humanitarianism not as separate from politics, but in relation to it, and as a challenge to political choices that too often kill or allow others to be killed. Speaking is the first political act. It is the first act of liberty, and it always implicitly involves another. In speaking, one inherently recognizes that 'I am and I am not alone.' In this space lies our humanity." Having seen things we hope never to see, confronted suffering, dispassion, and evil we hope never to encounter, and faced deep personal torment, James Orbinski still believes in "the good we can be if we so choose." His chosen medium is stories from his own experience-a form of testimony from the front lines-embodied in which are warnings, hope, and lessons in how we can inject humanitarian activity into our lives. Being political, he has discovered, is not only reserved for politicians; admitting imperfection is essential to compassion. The crystal clarity of Orbinski's voice is matched by the urgency of his message; at a time of great political and moral uncertainty, An Imperfect Offering is invaluable reading for anyone who feels he/she can make a difference.

Author : James Orbinski
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN 13 : 0802717624
Total Pages : 449 pages
Book Rating : 4.27/5 ( download)

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Download or read book An Imperfect Offering written by James Orbinski and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2009-09-29 with total page 449 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Describes the author's experiences as a doctor for Doctors Without Borders in countries such as Somalia, Afghanistan, and Rwanda; the conditions he witnessed; and the political roadblocks that prevented aid from reaching patients.

Author : James Orbinski
Publisher : Doubleday Canada
ISBN 13 : 0307371808
Total Pages : 450 pages
Book Rating : 4.05/5 ( download)

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Download or read book An Imperfect Offering written by James Orbinski and published by Doubleday Canada. This book was released on 2009-02-24 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: National Bestseller “As Albert Camus wrote, the doctor’s role is as a witness–to witness authentically the reality of humanity, and to speak out against the horrors of political inaction. . . . The only crime equaling inhumanity is the crime of indifference, silence, and forgetting.” —James Orbinski In 1988, James Orbinski, then a medical student in his twenties, embarked on a year-long research trip to Rwanda, a trip that would change who he would be as a doctor and as a man. Investigating the conditions of pediatric AIDS in Rwanda, James confronted widespread pain and suffering, much of it preventable, much of it occasioned by political and economic corruption. Fuelled by the injustice of what he had seen in Rwanda, Orbinski helped establish the Canadian chapter of Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders/MSF). As a member of MSF he travelled to Peru during a cholera epidemic, to Somalia during the famine and civil war, and to Jalalabad, Afghanistan. In April 1994, James answered a call from the MSF Amsterdam office. Rwandan government soldiers and armed militias of extremist Hutus had begun systematically to murder Tutsis. While other foreigners were evacuated from Rwanda, Orbinski agreed to serve as Chef de Mission for MSF in Kigali. As Rwanda descended into a hell of civil war and genocide, he and his team worked tirelessly, tending to thousands upon thousands of casualties. In fourteen weeks 800,000 men, women and children were exterminated. Half a million people were injured, and millions were displaced. The Rwandan genocide was Orbinski’s undoing. Confronted by indescribable cruelty, he struggled to regain his footing as a doctor, a humanitarian and a man. In the end he chose not to retreat from the world, but resumed his work with MSF, and was the organization’s president when it was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999. An Imperfect Offering is a deeply personal, deeply political book. With unstinting candor, Orbinski explores the nature of humanitarian action in the twenty-first century, and asserts the fundamental imperative of seeing as human those whose political systems have most brutally failed. He insists that in responding to the suffering of others, we must never lose sight of the dignity of those being helped or deny them the right to act as agents in their own lives. He takes readers on a journey to some of the darkest places of our history but finds there unimaginable acts of courage and empathy. Here he is doctor as witness, recording voices that must be heard around the world; calling on others to meet their responsibility. “Ummera, ummera–sha” is a Rwandan saying that loosely translated means ‘Courage, courage, my friend–find your courage and let it live.’ It was said to me by a patient at our hospital in Kigali. She was slightly older than middle aged and had been attacked with machetes, her entire body rationally and systematically mutilated. Her face had been so carefully disfigured that a pattern was obvious in the slashes. I could do little more for her at that moment than stop the bleeding with a few sutures. We were completely overwhelmed. She knew and I knew that there were so many others. She said to me in the clearest voice I have ever heard, “Allez, allez. Ummera, ummera-sha”–‘Go, go. Courage, courage, my friend–find your courage and let it live.’ —From An Imperfect Offering

Author : Iddo Landau
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190657685
Total Pages : 288 pages
Book Rating : 4.80/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Finding Meaning in an Imperfect World written by Iddo Landau and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017-07-01 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Does life have meaning? Is it possible for life to be meaningful when the world is filled with suffering and when so much depends merely upon chance? Even if there is meaning, is there enough to justify living? These questions are difficult to resolve. There are times in which we face the mundane, the illogically cruel, and the tragic, which leave us to question the value of our lives. However, Iddo Landau argues, our lives often are, or could be made, meaningfulwe've just been setting the bar too high for evaluating what meaning there is. When it comes to meaning in life, Landau explains, we have let perfect become the enemy of the good. We have failed to find life perfectly meaningful, and therefore have failed to see any meaning in our lives. We must attune ourselves to enhancing and appreciating the meaning in our lives, and Landau shows us how to do that. In this warmly written book, rich with examples from the author's life, film, literature, and history, Landau offers new theories and practical advice that awaken us to the meaning already present in our lives and demonstrates how we can enhance it. He confronts prevailing nihilist ideas that undermine our existence, and the questions that dog us no matter what we believe. While exposing the weaknesses of ideas that lead many to despair, he builds a strong case for maintaining more hope. Along the way, he faces provocative questions: Would we choose to live forever if we could? Does death render life meaningless? If we examine it in the context of the immensity of the whole universe, can we consider life meaningful? If we feel empty once we achieve our goals, and the pursuit of these goals is what gives us a sense of meaning, then what can we do? Finding Meaning in an Imperfect World is likely to alter the way you understand your life.

Author : Marc Vachon
Publisher : ECW Press
ISBN 13 : 1554902967
Total Pages : 406 pages
Book Rating : 4.65/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Rebel Without Borders written by Marc Vachon and published by ECW Press. This book was released on 2010-12-14 with total page 406 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From reverse engineering to phonetic modifications, this innovative anthology reveals surprising meaning behind familiar subject matter. Through the Bible and other cultural narratives, the featured verse conducts numerous intriguing lyrical experiments, making this compendium a welcome addition to any collection of poetry.

Author : Gary Ryan Blair
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 0470504560
Total Pages : 32 pages
Book Rating : 4.67/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Everything Counts written by Gary Ryan Blair and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2009-11-02 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Everything Counts! is an execution strategy for inspiring excellence and driving exceptional results. Too many people and organizations are mired in a mediocrity of their own making. They focus their attention and efforts on getting the big things right, but they ignore the little things that often make a big difference. As a result, reputations are damaged, brands diluted, and loyalty is lost by blatant disregard for the small stuff which negatively impacts the customer experience. For years, we've been taught not to sweat the small stuff, but in the real world of business, Everything Counts. Everything Counts is a call to greater awareness and with awareness comes a responsibility to raise the performance bar. It offers a powerful operating philosophy that will steer your organization to reach higher levels of growth, productivity, and performance. From the smallest customer contact to the most minute details of product quality, the little things add up to a pretty big deal. Serving as the definitive guide on organizational and personal mastery, this book gives you a foundation for unparalleled customer service, superior quality, and consistent performance. A proven system for organizing, aligning, and improving all your efforts in sales, service, and performance improvement Shows how concentrating on the small things leads to growth, productivity, personal success, and business greatness Helps you motivate your people and teams to achieve better results on both the personal and organizational level Everything Counts reminds us that seemingly small things can make tremendous differences. The purpose of this book is to help you internally define and take ownership of the most fundamental principle behind achieving results beyond you expectations-a single idea with an actionable focus-Everything Counts!

Author : Atul Gawande
Publisher : Metropolitan Books
ISBN 13 : 1429972106
Total Pages : 292 pages
Book Rating : 4.09/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Complications written by Atul Gawande and published by Metropolitan Books. This book was released on 2003-04-01 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A brilliant and courageous doctor reveals, in gripping accounts of true cases, the power and limits of modern medicine. Sometimes in medicine the only way to know what is truly going on in a patient is to operate, to look inside with one's own eyes. This book is exploratory surgery on medicine itself, laying bare a science not in its idealized form but as it actually is -- complicated, perplexing, and profoundly human. Atul Gawande offers an unflinching view from the scalpel's edge, where science is ambiguous, information is limited, the stakes are high, yet decisions must be made. In dramatic and revealing stories of patients and doctors, he explores how deadly mistakes occur and why good surgeons go bad. He also shows us what happens when medicine comes up against the inexplicable: an architect with incapacitating back pain for which there is no physical cause; a young woman with nausea that won't go away; a television newscaster whose blushing is so severe that she cannot do her job. Gawande offers a richly detailed portrait of the people and the science, even as he tackles the paradoxes and imperfections inherent in caring for human lives. At once tough-minded and humane, Complications is a new kind of medical writing, nuanced and lucid, unafraid to confront the conflicts and uncertainties that lie at the heart of modern medicine, yet always alive to the possibilities of wisdom in this extraordinary endeavor. Complications is a 2002 National Book Award Finalist for Nonfiction.

Author : Gaby Dunn
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 150117634X
Total Pages : 304 pages
Book Rating : 4.40/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Bad with Money written by Gaby Dunn and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2019-01-01 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Humorous and forthright...[Gaby] Dunn makes facing money issues seem not only palatable but possibly even fun....Dunn’s book delivers.” —Publishers Weekly The beloved writer-comedian expands on her popular podcast with an engaging and empowering financial literacy book for Millennials and Gen Z. In the first episode of her “Bad With Money” podcast, Gaby Dunn asked patrons at a coffee shop two questions: First, what’s your favorite sex position? Everyone was game to answer, even the barista. Then, she asked how much money was in their bank accounts. People were aghast. “That’s a very personal question,” they insisted. And therein lies the problem. Dunn argues that our inability to speak honestly about money is our #1 barrier to understanding it, leading us to feel alone, ashamed and anxious, which in turns makes us feel even more overwhelmed by it. In Bad With Money, she reveals the legitimate, systemic reasons behind our feeling of helplessness when it comes to personal finance, demystifying the many signposts on the road to getting our financial sh*t together, like how to choose an insurance plan or buy a car, sign up for a credit card or take out student loans. She speaks directly to her audience, offering advice on how to make that #freelancelyfe work for you, navigate money while you date, and budget without becoming a Nobel-winning economist overnight. Even a topic as notoriously dry as money becomes hilarious and engaging in the hands of Dunn, who weaves her own stories with the perspectives of various comedians, artists, students, and more, arguing that—even without selling our bodies to science or suffering the indignity of snobby thrift shop buyers—we can all start taking control of our financial futures.

Author : Nadia Davids
Publisher : Penguin Random House South Africa
ISBN 13 : 9781415207697
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.90/5 ( download)

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Download or read book An Imperfect Blessing written by Nadia Davids and published by Penguin Random House South Africa. This book was released on 2015 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An Imperfect Blessing is a vibrant, funny and moving debut that places one family's story at the heart of a country's rebirth and interrogates issues of faith, race, belonging and freedom.

Author : Steve Munby
Publisher : Crown House Publishing Ltd
ISBN 13 : 1785834282
Total Pages : 288 pages
Book Rating : 4.88/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Imperfect Leadership written by Steve Munby and published by Crown House Publishing Ltd. This book was released on 2019-07-09 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Imperfect Leadership: A book for leaders who know they don't know it all, Steve Munby eloquently reflects upon and describes a leadership approach that is strong on self-awareness and positive about the importance of asking for help. Foreword by Michael Fullan. When asked to describe his own leadership style, Steve uses the word 'imperfect' . This is not something he apologises for; he feels imperfect leadership should be celebrated. Too often we are given examples of leaders who are put on some kind of pedestal, lauded as superheroes who have it all worked out and are so good at what they do that nobody else can come close. This book is the antidote to that flawed perception. Imperfect Leadership is an honest reflection upon leadership. It is about Steve's journey, covering his highs and lows and, ultimately, how he learned to refine and improve his leadership. It is about messy, trial-and-error, butterflies-in-the-stomach leadership and about thoughtful and invitational leadership - and the positive impact it can have. At the heart of the book are edited highlights of the 12 keynote speeches delivered to increasingly large audiences of school leaders between 2005 and 2017. These speeches, delivered at the Seizing Success and Inspiring Leadership conferences, form the structure around which Steve's story and insights are wrapped. Steve's account covers some fundamental shifts in the English education system over this 12-year period and describes how school leaders altered their leadership as this context changed. Furthermore, it delves into how his own leadership developed as his personal context changed, and explores how the notion that a leader needs to be good at all aspects of leadership is not only unrealistic, but is also bad for the mental and physical health of leaders and will do nothing to attract new people into leadership positions. Ultimately, Steve hopes that as you read this book you will see the value of imperfect leadership and of the positive impact it can make. For those reading it who have yet to step up into leadership, his sincere wish is that it will encourage and empower aspirational leaders rather than discourage them. Suitable for all those in or aspiring to leadership positions in education.