Albert Schweitzer: Renewer of Mankind

"A generous heart, kind speech, and a life of service and compassion are the things which renew humanity" - Buddha. Although Buddha didn't know it at the time, he had just described a man who would renew humanity with his heart, servitude and compassion for life. Albert Schweitzer, noted physician, musician, and theologian, was born on January 14, 1875 in Kaysersberg, Germany, to Louis and Adele Schweitzer. In 1905, he "had a religious revelation that he must renounce facile success and throw himself into the betterment of mankind's condition" (Peterson). Because of that, he turned away from music and theology to earn his medical degree; which he received in 1913. Later that year, he married Helene Bresslau and set up the Albert Schweitzer hospital in Lambaréné, Africa (in the Republic of Gabon). He defied the common opinion of Europeans that Africans belonged below Europeans in the social hierarchy. However, instead of becoming a celebrated organist or a renowned theologian, he departed to help Africans. By being one of the most open-minded individuals of his time and possessing a magnanimous humanitarian heart, Albert Schweitzer achieved and fulfilled his duty to help mankind any way possible.

Albert Schweitzer's open-mindedness allowed him to create philosophies for everyone and let him step over racial boundaries while interacting with the natives. In the summer of 1915, Schweitzer experienced a life-changing moment when the term "Reverence for Life" popped into his head. Schweitzer concluded that causing unnecessary harm or suffering is forbidden, but he: "acknowledged that reverence for life has an unavoidably subjective or personal dimension. One person may conclude that reverence for life requires one to be vegetarian; another that eating animal flesh is permissible. Each, in making this subjective decision, may be showing reverence for life, but if one decides to eat meat, one has the objective obligation to ensure that animals live and die without unnecessary suffering" (Evans). Schweitzer acknowledged reverence for life could be subjective with the examples of vegetarians and non-vegetarians. He looked at it from two completely different perspectives and pointed out how two completely different people could still follow reverence for life. Although war raged across the globe, Schweitzer promoted a peaceful lifestyle with reverence for life to all people. While following reverence for life at his hospital, Schweitzer experienced the chance to talk to many native patients; in which he later wrote in his book, The Primeval Forest: "Conversations I have had in the hospital with old natives about the ultimate things in life have deeply impressed me. The distinction between white and coloured, educated and uneducated, disappears when one gets talking with the forest dweller about our relations to each other, to mankind, to the universe, and to the infinite" (Schweitzer 115). During Schweitzer's time, which was the early-mid 20th century, Europeans typically took the native people of Africa as ignorant or lesser beings because the majority lacked a Western education. However, Schweitzer noticed the natives were not as ignorant and could be as deep as a European, contrary to European beliefs. His open-mind was seen, even by the small act of discussing life and the universe with the natives. Schweitzer proved how he possessed an extraordinarily open mind when he stepped over racial boundaries and listened deeply to what they believed.  His broad mind was clearly shown with his own different interpretations of his philosophy and his erasing of racial distinctions, which allowed him to be a true humanitarian.

Albert Schweitzer embodied the word, humanitarian, through his firm belief that it was his duty to help mankind. The Primeval Forest, a book he wrote about his time in Africa, described how he felt about his work, treating the natives at his hospital: "Meanwhile the medical work goes on as usual. Every morning when I go down to the hospital I feel it as an inexpressible mercy that, while so many men find it their duty to inflict suffering and death on others, I can be doing good and helping to save human life. This feeling supports me through all my weariness" (Schweitzer 105). A humanitarian is defined as a person who seeks to promote human welfare. His emotions genuinely reflect this definition because he felt blessed at being able to save human lives and not end them. He not only was a humanitarian by helping and saving lives at his hospital; Schweitzer also worked to ban nuclear weapons and testing. Schweitzer even went so far as to have: "his'Declaration of Conscience' read over Radio Oslo on April 23, 1957, and eventually broadcast in nations around the world. By pointing to the dangerous effects of radiation produced by the testing of nuclear weapons, Schweitzer warned that every additional nuclear explosion was'a catastrophe for the human race, a catastrophe that must be prevented'" (Wittner). Schweitzer didn't just write an essay about anti-nuclear weaponry, instead he had it broadcasted over the entire world. Seeing how he promoted his anti-nuclear stance, Schweitzer confirmed his status as a humanitarian by seeking to better mankind, besides healing and treating people at his hospital. While Albert Schweitzer was primarily known for his humanitarian work in his hospital; he also was an anti-nuclear weapon activist. Therefore, proving he embodied the word, humanitarian.

Albert Schweitzer unpretentiously lived the life of a hero because of his extraordinary open-mindedness, allowing him to create new philosophies while learning about others, and his humanitarian heart which truly wished to help mankind. Through his actions and personal thoughts, Schweitzer inspires people to believe we all must do our part to help mankind and to hold a reverence for life. "Believing it, as I do, to be my life's task to fight on behalf of the sick under far-off stars, I appeal to the sympathy which Jesus and religion generally call for, but at the same time I call to my help also our most fundamental ideas and reasonings. We ought to see the work that needs doing for the coloured folk in their misery, not as mere'good work,' but as a duty that must not be shirked" (Schweitzer 127). His words touched the humanist in me, making me want to find my own way to help mankind. He also inspires with his philosophy of Reverence for Life; which is when: "human beings affirm both their own inner will to live and the will to live in all forms of life, they experience contact with something much deeper:'Reverence for life means to be in the grasp of the infinite, inexplicable, forward-urging will in which all Being is grounded' (Schweitzer 1987 [1923], p. 283). Schweitzer argues that this mystical experience is necessary for a genuinely positive orientation toward life" (Evans). His philosophy of Reverence for Life inspires me because it is so straightforward. When one respects life and oneself, the world will become a better place. Ever since I have started practicing reverence for life by being more respectful to everyone, my life and the world around me has become a happier place. Schweitzer strongly reasoned that we must all respect life in all forms and sizes for a finer world. Renewing humanity sounds like a tough thing to do, but Albert Schweitzer did it. Through his generous heart and a life of service and compassion, he became a true hero.

Works Cited

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3rd ed. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Biography In Context. Web. 19 Mar. 2013.

Schweitzer, Albert. "Christmas, 1914." The Primeval Forest: Including On the Edge of the Primeval Forest ; And, More from the Primeval Forest.

Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins UP in Association with the Albert Schweitzer Institute for the Humanities, 1998. 105. Print.

Schweitzer, Albert. "Results and Conclusions." The Primeval Forest: Including On the Edge of the Primeval Forest ; And, More from the Primeval

Forest. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins UP in Association with the Albert Schweitzer Institute for the Humanities, 1998.126-30. Print.

Schweitzer, Albert. "The Mission." The Primeval Forest: Including On the Edge of the Primeval Forest ; And, More from the Primeval Forest.

Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins UP in Association with the Albert Schweitzer Institute for the Humanities, 1998. 114-16. Print.

Wittner, Lawrence S. "Blacklisting Schweitzer." Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 51.3 (1995): 55+. Biography In Context. Web. 29 Mar. 2013.