Albert Schweitzer

One has to admire the man. If that sounds as though I do so begrudgingly, let me say at once that I can't think of anyone I admire more. Out of a spiritual sense of obligation, Albert Schweitzer, musician, intellectual, abandoned the certainty of fame and success simply because he took scripture at its word and applied his love of God to the practical outworking of the Second Great Commandment in a demonstration of love in the shape of care and concern for his neighbour in the most dedicated and effective manner.

That he focused on his neighbour in the Cameroons, so far from his native Alsace, indicates the intensity of his commitment. As we read his straightforward, down-to-earth account of the manner in which he founded his mission hospital at Lambarene against incredible odds, we can only marvel at his perseverance. For a start, the climate was against him. Anyone who has lived under the shadow of tropical downpour, when the heavens open with a driving deluge that not only turns the surface of the ground into a sloppy mess of semi-liquid mud, but beats fiercely on any protective covering with demoniacal fury, stripping trees and bushes of their leaves, searching out the smallest roof-hole, sending exploratory rills along every cranny, into every nook, curling tentacles in every direction, until everything is sodden or swept away. Or, if it is not actually raining, the heat and humidity sap one's energy as if in organised onslaught, leaving all life dull and exhausted.

If that were not discouragement sufficient to stifle the enthusiasm of the most dedicated disciple, the seething abundance of insect life, much of it in apparently frantic opposition to every effort of mankind to improve his existence, makes its presence known, usually in a manner inconvenient or obnoxious and at a time when it is either too late or too impractical to take any steps to avoid or oppose it. Dr Schweitzer never complains. It seem it is just not in his character to do so. Indeed, to complain would sound a jarring note, altogether at odds with the tone of his writing and the reason for his being in Africa at all.

His willingness to pit himself against adversity is phenomenal. Admissions of extreme fatigue sound reluctant, casual, merely for the honesty and completeness of the record. The shortcomings of his workers he describes in tone of wry acceptance, tinged only slightly with the utter exasperation he must have felt as his best efforts to improve the lives of those he gave up everything to save were repeatedly frustrated.

He mentions them in the tones of a lovingly loyal parent aware of the limitations of his offspring, finding all manner of excuses for them, patiently adjusting his expectations accordingly. He paved the way for others to go out and serve.

Out of My Life and Thought (Albert Schweitzer Library) USA
Out of My Life and Thought: An Autobiography UK

by guest blogger: Brian Murgatroyd