Integrity

Throughout history there have been many people noted for their place in shaping the world around us. These people were noted because he or she had the perseverance, confidence, and integrity to pursue what they believed to be the correct course of action for the good of all. Integrity is a firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values; incorruptibility. This integrity and these values will not only shape the future of a person’s life, but it will shape the world around them. I agree whole-heartedly that “One person – a Raoul Wallenberg, an Albert Schweitzer, a Martin Luther King, Jr. – one person of integrity, can make a difference, a difference of life and death.” but they’re not required to.

As stated in Elie Wiesel’s Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, Raoul Wallenberg was a man of great integrity. During Hitler’s Holocaust Raoul Wallenberg tried to save as many Hungarian Jews from death camps like Auschwitz. He used many unconventional methods for diplomacy, anything from bribery to blackmail, in order to save the lives of the innocent. Another way of protecting the Hungarian Jews was to issue Swedish Passports to as many people as he could, this would normally prevent deportation to the death camps. Everything Raoul Wallenberg underwent was at great personal risk and loss. Thanks to his selflessness, persistence, and integrity, Raoul Wallenberg, saved the lives of over 100,000 Jews. He chose to be the difference between life and death.

Another man noted for his integrity by Elie Wiesel was Albert Schweitzer. Albert Schweitzer was a highly distinguished musician from a young age. Through his musical profession he earned enough money to fund his education and later medical schooling.    After deciding to go to Africa as a medical missionary instead of a pastor, Schweitzer began to study medicine at the University of Strasbourg in 1905. In 1913, upon obtaining his Medical Doctorate, he founded a hospital at Lambaréné in French Equatorial Africa. Soon after, in 1917, he and his wife were sent to a French internment camp as Prisoners of War. After being released in 1918, he spent the next six years giving medical lectures, music concerts, preaching, and studying medicine throughout Europe. Finally in 1924 he returned to Lambaréné. For the rest of his life he used the funds from donations, his personal appearances, and  royalties to expand his hospital to seventy buildings that could care for over 500 patients at once. On December 10, 1953, Schweitzer was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, for all of his many contributions to humanity. Additionally he started a leprosarium at Lambaréné with the $33,000 of Nobel Prize money. Albert Schweitzer was a man of great integrity whose efforts resulted in the saving of thousands of lives. He made the difference between life and death.