How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
Even the probationer began to show the first inkling of Sound Nursing Sense. Instead of struggling to appear to be something she was not, she wept for Sister, who was the only nurse who really understood her. For the first time the probationer saw the children not as "fetuses" or "neonates" but instead as motherless children, like herself, to be pitied. Her tears poured out. (1.10.67)
Finally, the probationer starts to understand what everyone has been calling "sound nursing sense." She thinks it's something she can gain by memorizing the words in her textbooks, but really she needs to feel it in her bones. For some good students, that's the hardest lesson of all.
Quote #8
"My journey, my pain, my operation…," the Colonel went on, "God was showing me the suffering of my people. It was a message. How we treat the least of our brethren, how we treat the peasant suffering with volvulus, that's the measure of this country. Not our fighter planes or tanks, or how big the Emperor's palace happens to be. I think God put you in my path." (2.14.33)
Colonel Mebratu will go on to lead a coup against the emperor in an attempt to free his people from the injustice and poverty they experience under his rule. An important factor in making the decision to fight is the compassion he feels for his fellow Ethiopians, who live in terrible conditions.
Quote #9
"When you look around Addis and see children barefoot and shivering in the rain, when you see the lepers begging for their next morsel, does any of that Monophysitic nonsense matter the least bit?"
Matron leaned her head on the windowpane.
"God will judge us [...] by what we did to relieve the suffering of our fellow human beings." (2.14.54-56)
Monophysitic is a term that refers to someone who believes that Jesus was totally divine. It's opposed to the idea that Jesus had two natures, divine and human. What's the big deal, you ask? Well, Matron asks the same thing. Some people are more worried about philosophical debates than about basic needs being met, and Matron wants to teach them some compassion.