More American citizens claim German heritage than any other country. If I were not mostly Anglo-Saxon/Celt, I wouldn’t even think about it. But, with a name like Schweitzer, what can I do but have interest in the German name I now have had for 45 years? The great philosopher, Albert Schweitzer, scholar, theologian, and musician gave up fame and fortune to practice medicine in Africa. Verified by a letter written to another cousin we learned Albert Schweitzer and the American Schweitzer family are related.

Recently, my husband and I wandered into a used bookstore in Rousseau, Ontario. We found and bought "Albert Schweitzer, A Portrait in Words and Pictures, " by Erica Anderson. As I read, I was inspired by the simplicity of his message of caring and respect. His reverence for life concept translated to all living things; he even had a pet pelican in the jungle, at his hospital in Lambarene.

In an interview in 1953 on radio Brazzaville, in the Congo, Africa, he continued this thinking:

"When man sets himself, as a unity of reason and emotion, to mediation and to reasoning, emotion and reason are in accord. The principal of respect for life is the same as the principal of love of the great moral and religious spirits."

"Everything that lives is related to us. We must not hurt another life. We should kill only under compulsion of absolute necessity. We must help. This is our responsibility. Everyone must work to live, but the purpose of life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others. Only then have we ourselves become true human beings."

It is not always easy to carry out this respectfulness. Sometimes it’s agony, but it’s worth it to be the one who keeps respect alive in the world of humans, and Schweitzer would add, the animal kingdom as well.

So, Mr. Dangerfield, if you do not get respect, you can at least give it and make the world a better place as you do.

Janet E. Schweitzer, Executive Director