Momento Espírita
Curitiba, 29 de Março de 2024
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ícone We are all brothers

In times of so many struggles for equality, for social inclusion; in times when almost everything is taken into account of sexual, social, racial discrimination, it is good to remember Albert Schweitzer.

This pianist, surgeon, a worker of the good, has left us, with his lyrics and his example, extraordinary lessons.

In Africa, where he went to serve his brothers, he was a carpenter, builder, foreman of the shovel and pickaxe class.

He built a hospital, largely, with his own hands. Rejoicingly, he rebuilt it when, after a long absence, he found it taken by the jungle.

The writer, the pianist, raised fences, painted the walls with whitewash, spent days in a canoe, from village to village, to obtain palm leaves to cover houses.

Dragging large logs, one time, he summoned a native man dressed in white to help him. He received the answer: I am an intellectual. I do not drag wood through the woods.

Undisturbed, Schweitzer answered: You are lucky. I also wanted to be an intellectual, but I had no way.

And that he was. The very black people, who he fed and cared for, stretched out in the shade of the trees, resting in a madness indifference.

And to the question How do we like them, despite the annoyances they give us? – He said it took love and patience enough to understand them.

He identified himself with each patient, suffered with their suffering, tormented with their anxieties.

One of them, after surgery, regaining consciousness, looked around in amazement and exclaimed, over and over again: I feel no pain! I feel no pain!

His hand reached for the benefactor´s and he held it tightly.

So, patiently, Schweitzer stood there, having those grateful black hands in his own.

He took the opportunity and began telling him and everyone else that they were in the same dimly lit dormitory:

It was the Lord Jesus who sent me here, and my wife, who is my helper. And who gives the money so we can stay here, treating all of the sick ones, é the white people from Europe.

The native were amazed and filled him with questions. They wished to know more about these white people. Where they lived, what they did and how they knew that the natives suffered with so many diseases that they needed treatment.

The African sun shone, bitterly, outside and into the dark tent, where they all met.

They sat, side by side, black and white people. Some wondered, the other explained, informed, clarified, as a loving father teaching his children the basic, everyday things.

Something special seemed to involve them all. An atmosphere of friendship, compassion, understanding.

At that moment, in that environment, all of those souls felt, from their own experience, the high meaning of the words: We are all brothers.

*  *  *

We are all brothers! Brothers, because we are descendants of a single Father Creator, loving and good.

Brothers because we live in the same single home that houses us all: planet Earth.

Brothers, regardless of skin color, religious belief, political side, social status, the nation we live in.

May we all soon become firmly aware of this great truth: we are all brothers. And live this way.

 

Spiritist Moment Team, based on chapter 1, from the
book
O profeta das selvas, by Hermann Hagedorn,
publisher Fundação Alvorada.
September, 16.2019.

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