Albert Schweitzer
By Jennifer Brea

"...the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve."

Albert Schweitzer has been given many titles: gifted musician, brilliant theologian, and even saint. Albert Schweitzer was no saint, but he was a man sensitive to the suffering of all living things. This sensitivity is a current that runs throughout his life from his childhood in Alsace, to his studies and scholarly search for truth, and in his example of selflessness: his hospital in French Gabon. Throughout his life he remained an idealist with a childlike faith in humanity, refusing to let disillusionment overtake him, even in old age. Albert Schweitzer touched thousands of lives directly and through his teachings and life example. He inspired millions to revere life and believe in mankind.

Albert Schweitzer was born in Alsace to two devoted and loving parents. His mother was the daughter of a Munster Valley pastor and his father the pastor to a Protestant minority in Catholic Alsace. From infancy, Schweitzer was influenced by his father's speeches and example of piety. He was so affected by his father, a man who spoke from his heart and personal experience with passion and fire. Schweitzer's father practiced the piety he preached, a fact that perhaps inspired Schweitzer to teach by life example. As a child, Schweitzer often succumbed to the pressure of his playmates to jeer at the town pariahs or stone unsuspecting birds. However, Schweitzer could feel the suffering and pain he caused and soon preferred the consequences of following his own heart despite pressure from his peers. Schweitzer refused to do anything to cause any breathing thing pain, adopting a compassion that would be the guiding force throughout his life. By his own admission, Schweitzer was a "mediocre" student, but had, nonetheless, a brilliance and a passion in his search for truth. He studied theology and philosophy at the University of Strasbourg, continuing the habit of questioning biblical scripture that his father had taught him.

At twenty-one, Schweitzer allotted himself nine more years "to himself." By thirty he would find his calling and dedicate his life in service to humanity . If only one in one thousand were to follow such an example! The sermons Schweitzer heard as a child had been burned into his memory. He remembered one sermon on sacrifice where his father spoke of a missionary doctor in South Africa. He worked to heal the ignored who would otherwise suffer and die, their village witch doctors helpless to do anything. It was by this memory that Schweitzer heard his calling. In 1905, Schweitzer began studying medicine while still pursuing his preaching, research, and music.

After completing his studies, he started a hospital at the Lambarene Mission in French-ruled Gabon where, to the wonderment of his African patients, worked virtual miracles. From a converted chicken coop, Schweitzer worked in conditions that would appall his colleagues in Europe. Yet, it was amazing what a little bit of western medicine could do for people in Africa with diseases that would otherwise be mortal. There he also preached, thus offering medicine for body as well as soul, sharing with these suffering people, his passions and love for life.

While in Africa, Schweitzer began planning a book, The Philosophy of Civilization. In his studies he believed that the current state of humanity was unnatural. He contended the strongest of human wills is the will to live. Therefore, humankind by nature, reveres life in all forms. To kill or wage war is thus, an inhuman act. Those who disrespect the sanctity of life are, in essence, denying their own natures. Schweitzer refused to let his idealism die with age and lived in a state of compassion and reverence for life he believed was only natural for human beings. Schweitzer's message came in the midst of world war when carnage was the usual fare and suffering, an accepted norm.

Schweitzer returned to Strasbourg where he studied the great religions and taught. He focused not on belief systems he found inherently pessimistic, like Buddhism, but instead read extensively in both western and eastern teachings that revered this world and offered models for living and effecting social change. He continued to search for truth. He still believed in the natural goodness of humankind, spreading his ideas by lecturing throughout Europe. Schweitzer returned again to Africa where he continued writing and thinking.

His lectures and works had earned him recognition within his field, a recognition that soon spread. He spoke out against the European colonization of Africa, believing Europe had no right to be there. The great powers came not to educate nor to help these peoples develop, but rather came with the selfish intention to exploit. Though a second world war was imminent and Schweitzer found himself preparing his hospital for war, his belief in mankind was ever as strong. Man was merely asleep, ignoring his inner self and call to revere life. Change was only a matter of educating and awakening the same passion Schweitzer felt daily in those he touched through his lectures and writings. I

In 1952, Albert Schweitzer won the Nobel Peace Prize for his teachings and lifelong dedication in serving humanity. Now at the height of his international celebrity, Schweitzer was asked to speak out against nuclear warfare. Initially hesitant, he soon realized it was an issue affecting humanity as a whole, not just the U.S. and Russia, now embroiled in a bitter arms race. It was hoped Schweitzer would have a powerful impact given the widespread respect and popularity he commanded. In 1957, he broadcast a "Declaration of Conscience" by radio from Oslo to fifty nations. His radio speech intensified the public outcry and pressured the atomic nations to temporarily suspend testing and reevaluate their armament policy. Even after this small victory, Schweitzer continued to fight for nuclear peace.

Albert Schweitzer died September 5, 1965 at his hospital in Gabon where, quite fittingly, a simple wooden cross marks his grave. Schweitzer can truly be considered a Peace Hero for what is a hero but a human being whose life can be an example? Schweitzer lived his life in humility andd reverence for all living things, and though wholly disentangled from the politics of nations, was able to influence the world by his simple example of service to his fellow man. It is a example so easily followed, yet so often forgotten. What the world would be if only one in one thousand found such joy in serving mankind!