Another trafficking victim said he had seen as many as 20 fellow slaves killed in front of him, one of whom was tied, limb by limb, to the bows of four boats and pulled apart at sea. "We'd get beaten even if we worked hard," said another.
Yet, thinking back to my undergraduate days, I despised any practical that, even if we worked flat-out and shared the tasks, we still couldn't even come close to finishing in the time we had.
It's an intriguing idea — that by studying creative people who are passionate about what they do, we can enhance our own creativity, and business savvy, even if we work in a completely different arena.
Because all our bodies are different and we won't all get six packs, even if we work out in a sauna, on steroids, with our gut wrapped in cling film.
"But there are patients who come in to see us and for the counselling we offer and even if we work out that they do not meet the current strict criteria, they still want the test and will pay for it privately instead".
But even if we work within an IMF imposed budget ceiling, this does not refute our general claim that we should agree on a level of domestic health spending, whatever that is, and use that level to work out an equitable distribution of international transfers of aid.
It is beautiful still, and can be even more beautiful, if we work together and care for it.
We're even taught to believe that if we work hard enough, any of these things can be ours, too.
With four doctors on duty overnight, we knew that even if we all worked flat out, even if the continuous flow of ambulances bringing in more and more sick patients was to stop, we could not see every patient in the department by morning.
"Even if we're working for money in the olive harvest, we're enjoying it," Mr. Najar said as he took a break under a tree with several university students also being paid to pick.
But even if we are working on a political level toward systemic change (wage equality for instance), even if every pop star in the world proclaims herself a feminist (thank you, Bey), most of us still have to roll out of bed each morning feeling relatively powerless and face the mundane, subtle bullshit that confronts us on a daily basis.
