The purpose of human life is to serve and to show compassion and the will to help others.
“The purpose of human life is to serve and to show compassion and the will to help others.”
Today is Dr. Albert Schweitzer’s 148th birthday (1875-1965). However, a half-century or more ago, the very mention of the name Schweitzer instantly conjured up ideas of sacrifice, heroism, and the very picture of a contemporary, humanitarian doctor. As one of his many charity endeavors, Dr. Schweitzer established a hospital at Lambaréné, now the capital of the Moyen-Ogooué province in Gabon. Lambaréné was located in what was then known as French Equatorial Africa. His 1931 autobiography, “Out of My Life and Thought,” detailed a large portion of his work in Africa and was a best-selling publication worldwide. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1952.
Only two months had passed since Germany had taken Kaysersberg (Alsace-Lorraine) from France due to winning the Franco-Prussian war when Albert was born in Kaysersberg, Germany (now Haut-Rhin, France). He accepted the Society of Evangelist Missions of Paris’ invitation in 1905 to pursue a medical career and support the organization’s mission and activity. A 31-year-old Albert started medical school the following year, 1906, despite his family’s requests that he continue his studies in religion. He earned his M.D. in 1913 and has surgical and tropical medical specializations. The Psychiatric Study of Jesus was the title of his medical dissertation. He founded a hospital at Lambaréné at a station built by the Paris Missionary Society. The distance to the Port Gentil, the Ogooué River’s mouth, was around 200 kilometers (now Cape Lopez). The illnesses that the Schweitzers handled were horrifying and lethal. They included wounds sustained in encounters with wild animals, leprosy, dysentery, elephantiasis, sleeping sickness, malaria, yellow fever, and several other prevalent health issues that affect the human body. The living circumstances were also appalling, with temporary shelters serving as a refuge and clinics, sweltering, humid tropical days, chilly nights, and heavy downpours and winds. They saw more than 2,000 patients in their first nine months in Africa. The hospital expanded rapidly in the following years, both in terms of its physical facilities and capacity to provide comprehensive and cutting-edge medical treatment. The Schweitzer Hospital had 13 volunteer aides, seven nurses, and three unpaid doctors by the 1950s. The property had included 70 structures, 350 beds, and a 200-person leper colony by the time Dr. Schweitzer passed away in 1965 at the age of 90. Giving benefit concerts and speeches in Europe to raise money for his hospital back in Africa is one way Dr. Schweitzer rose to fame. He frequently emphasized that his philosophy was based on “reverence for life” and the moral and religious obligations to care for others. He collaborated with Albert Einstein, Otto Hahn, Bertrand Russell, and others in the early 1950s to promote social responsibility and a prohibition on nuclear weapons as the horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had finally become deeply ingrained in the collective consciousness of humanity. In his extensive lecture on “the issues of peace,” Dr. Schweitzer informed his large audience that the cessation of atomic bomb testing would be like the first rays of hope that suffering mankind longs for. Dr. Schweitzer spent more than 50 years providing medical care to those in need while working in a remote area that few of his peers would dare to travel to. He was undoubtedly a complex individual, but his humanitarianism had a significant impact on the lives of several people in urgent need of care and, for the most part, had a favorable impact on the society in which he lived.
