|
REMEMBERING SCHWEITZER
By Mark L. Wolf
Monday, January 14, 1985
Boston Globe, Op Ed page
Today, the 110th anniversary of his birth, is Albert Schweitzer Reverence for Life Day in Massachusetts.
It may be asked why we should now remember a jungle doctor - particularly one who in his last years was criticized as a paternalistic anachronism, and whose hospital was then called unsanitary rather than exemplary.
Schweitzer believed his life was his argument. A look at that life reveals why he remains worth remembering.
Schweitzer was born in Germany. Before he was 30, he was the preeminent interpreter and performer of Bach, serving as the organist of the Paris Bach Society. He was also a seminal philosopher and liberal theologian.
But Schweitzer, though successful, was uncomfortable. He felt that because he was gifted he ''must show more than average devotion of life to life." Acting on this impulse, Schweitzer initiated a project for the rehabilitation of paroled prisoners and derelicts. It was a frustrating failure.
In 1904, however, Schweitzer read a Paris Missionary Society magazine article describing the desperate need for a doctor to treat the unusual suffering in French West Africa. He decided to become that doctor. Over the objections of his family and friends, Schweitzer resigned his academic position and, at age 30, enrolled in medical school. Five years later, Dr. Schweitzer asked the society to send him to Gabon. Although there was still no doctor within thousands of square miles of the area to be served, the society rejected his request. It refused to be represented by anyone who could not affirm that every word of the Scriptures was divinely inspired, and Schweitzer could not answer dogmatic questions unequivocally.
Schweitzer decided to finance his medical mission himself. He did so by playing concerts and, with discomfort, soliciting contributions. In 1913, Schweitzer and his wife, a nurse, arrived in Lambaréné. There Schweitzer built a modest hospital and quickly became beloved by those he served. In 1914, however, World War I reached Lambaréné and the French seized the Schweitzers as German prisoners of war.
Schweitzer used his internment to articulate his philosophy of reverence for life. When released in 1918, Schweitzer was exhausted. It was not until 1924, at age 47, that he returned to Lambaréné. He went to revive his hospital without his wife, who could no longer endure the tropical heat, or without their young daughter.
World War II again threatened Schweitzer and the hospital. In 1946, with its resources depleted, the hospital was on the verge of extinction until rescued by contributions from the United States. From 1924 to 1965, Schweitzer''s hospital treated more than 150,000 patients. Reflecting reverence for all life, the hospital also included a veterinary facility, and farm animals roamed the grounds freely.
As a doctor, Schweitzer touched the lives of many. But his impact on individuals in Africa was a foundation for public responsibility, not an escape from it.
Schweitzer was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1954 and warned of the danger of nuclear war. With the atomic bomb, he said, "man has become a superman . . . but he has not raised himself to the superhuman level of reason which should correspond to the possession of superhuman strength."
It is fitting that Schweitzer be honored in Massachusetts. His relative, Charles Munch, was the conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Many of Schweitzer''s American supporters have lived here. After Schweitzer''s death in 1965, Dr. Paul Dudley White sent a team from the Massachusetts General Hospital to work in Lambaréné. Today, regular rotations of Harvard Medical School students provide essential services at that facility.
Remembering Schweitzer, however, should not suggest that each of us ought to become a jungle doctor. Schweitzer often said, "Everyone must find his own Lambaréné," and he urged interested others to "seek a humble sort of thing."
For those influenced by Schweitzer''s example, there is also wisdom in his warning that "anyone who proposes to do good must not expect people to roll stones out of his way, but must accept his lot calmly if they roll a few more upon it. A strength which becomes clearer and stronger through its experience of such obstacles is the only strength which can conquer them."
For all of this, Schweitzer''s life remains a compelling argument.
Read Testimonials to Mark L. Wolf
More Information about Mark L. Wolf
|