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Inspired by original poster hooper1961.
William Wilberforce (1759-1833)
Portrait of Wm. Wilberforce in 1790
by John Rising
William Wilberforce was a British parliamentarian who lived a playboy lifestyle as a young man, had a Christian conversion experience at age 26, and then threw himself into the struggle for various social reforms in Britain for the remainder of his long life.
Among his achievements:
—Led the struggle for the Slave Trade Act of 1807, which abolished the slave trade in the British Empire and on the high seas and hastened the demise of slavery everywhere on Earth.
—Took a leading role in the struggle to pass the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833, which abolished slavery outright in the British Empire.
(and, as if that weren’t enough . . .)
—Founded the British Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
After converting to evangelical Christianity, Wilberforce became harshly critical of himself and his former privileged lifestyle. Throughout his career as a reformer, he maintained that he was motivated solely by a spiritual mandate to treat his fellow humans, and all other living creatures, with kindness.
He died just three days after being told that the Abolition of Slavery Act would be passed by Parliament.
The story of the long (26-year!) and complicated battle to abolish the slave trade in Britain is told in the excellent 2006 movie Amazing Grace. Although the movie embellishes the truth in spots, it does capture the most important parts of the story:
1) Wilberforce was originally reluctant to get involved in the messy business of leading the, at that time, unpopular struggle against slavery, and had to be talked into leading it by his friends.
2) The fight to abolish the slave trade took an incredible amount patience and teamwork, as well as some truly inspired political strategizing.
3) Due credit is given, in the movie, to Thomas Clarkson, and to the influence of the former slave Olaudah Equiano, and others, upon Wilberforce. Equiano, a British predecessor to Frederick Douglass, had written a popular book decrying slavery and played a significant role in persuading Wilberforce to use his eloquent voice in Parliament for the good of the cause.
4) The British anti-slavery movement’s darkest hour was during the Napoleonic Wars, an era when any British subject who publicly chastised the Crown for anything was opening himself up to charges of treason. Notwithstanding this hazard, Wilberforce continued to speak out and introduce anti-slavery bills (sometimes virtually alone in Parliament), and was subjected to severe political and personal rebuke as a result.
As we know, the institution of slavery was ultimately destroyed, and in looking back over History’s shoulder, we tend to take it as a foregone conclusion that the right would prevail.
But that’s the perplexing thing about so-called foregone conclusions, eh?
—We can only see them looking backward.
(To be continued.)
Wikipedia Article on Wilberforce: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wilberforce
Amazing Grace DVD at the Seattle Public Library:
http://tinyurl.com/amazing-grace-SPL
Wiki Article on Olaudah Equiano:
From the NY Times obit on Dr. Goldwasser:
In the late 1970s, Dr. Goldwasser, working at the University of Chicago, isolated and purified erythropoietin, or Epo, a protein that spurs the body to produce red blood cells. And he shared his precious material with a young biotechnology company, which figured out how to produce larger amounts of the protein using genetic engineering.
[ . . . ]
Most people undergoing kidney dialysis now receive Epo, helping to relieve them of severe anemia, which can sap them of energy. Many cancer patients also get the drug to combat anemia caused by chemotherapy.
[ . . . ]
While Epo has meant huge profits for drug companies, Dr. Goldwasser, whom colleagues described as quiet and self-effacing, won neither fame nor fortune. Although he notified his university about his accomplishment, it never patented Epo, and Dr. Goldwasser did not follow up.
“One percent of one percent of the drug’s annual revenues would have funded my lab quite handsomely,” he told a university publicist years later.
Hm. So this dude, after working on the problem for 20 years, invented a drug that has since saved countless thousands of lives and alleviated untold human suffering. Yet it never even occurred to him to try to get rich off of it.
That’s like a world-class pastry chef creating the Most Perfect and Delectable Cookie of All Time, a one-off accomplishment that can never be repeated. But then, while raising the cookie to his lips, he spies a wide-eyed child peering hungrily at him through the kitchen window. Whereupon our guy hands the cookie over to the kid without a second thought.
I’m deeply saddened this guy did not get the recognition or money he deserved while he lived. But, on the other hand, I’m glad he lived a long life and had the chance to occasionally reflect upon his contribution to society.
I like to imagine him pondering it briefly, and at random moments.
I imagine a series of lab journal entries, for example, written in Dr. Goldwasser’s hand. The journal entries read something like this:
June, 1977
June 1 — Re-calibrated the microscopes.
June 2 — Got the tissue results back from Klein.
June 3 — Rearranged furniture, took out trash.
June 4 — Finished work on miracle drug. (Whew!)
June 5 — Put in leave request for Bernie’s wedding.
Or I imagine him occasionally muttering something to himself about saving thousands of lives still being “plenty good enough,” — like maybe when a SCRABBLE opponent got lucky with “Q-U-A-R-T-Z-Y.”
Or I can even see him just blurting it out at the dinner table sometimes, so that his family would have to gently humor him:
“Yeah, Dad. We know, we know already! You saved countless lives and alleviated untold suffering. Now could you pass the potatoes, please?”
OK, so there’s that: Inventing something that saves lives is cool.
But then . . .
BUT THEN . . . when you then GIVE THAT LIFESAVING THING AWAY FOR FREE . . . you hit the Karmic Daily Double — every day, for the rest of your life.
(Drug companies, please take note. Your karma could use a little lift, perhaps?)
But even so, in the final analysis, one must always ask: So what’s the big deal about saving life anyway? Is life really all that?
And the answer is: Yes, life is all that!
And one of the many, many reasons life is all that, is because the world has beautiful music in it.
And the reason the world has beautiful music in it is? (You know where this is going, right?)
The reason the world has beautiful music in it, obviously, is because there are people in the world like Dennis Coleman, who, according to my sources, is a “kind, magical, and incredible teacher.”
Of music.
But you know what the most amazing and beautiful thing of all is? It’s that the world is practically crammed (yes crammed) full of heroes like these!
If we would only take a moment — in between bites of mashed potatoes — to notice.
O brave new world
That has such people in’t!
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