Schweitzer Fellows for Life Talk Leadership During COVID-19 Crisis
By Dennis Archambault
More than 100 Albert Schweitzer Fellows for Life, current Fellows, and program leadership gathered via the internet on April 2 to discuss the urgency of leadership during the COVID-19 crisis in the webinar, “Sparking our Leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic: A Schweitzer Fellowship approach.” Schweitzer Fellows are selected, in part, by their leadership character, and in part their commitment to humanitarian service. With 4,000 Fellows for Life – professionals who have completed the Schweitzer Fellowship – in various health and human service disciplines, the opportunity to contribute to the COVID-19 response through local leadership is great.
Dr. Lachlan Forrow, one of the founders of the Fellowship and current president of its national Board, lead the discussion with a historic perspective of Dr. Albert Schweitzer, the 20th-century humanitarian, and his concepts of “reverence for truth” and “reverence for life,” both of which have been called to task during the COVID-19 crisis. He summarized Schweitzer’s philosophy as “awe…making a difference in the life of someone is incredibly satisfying.” Schweitzer’s quote, “My life is my argument,” is a call to arms for Schweitzer Fellows for Life, Dr. Forrow asserted. Admitting that America and the world is facing a seemingly overwhelming challenge, he reminded the Fellows for Life of another Schweitzer adage, there are no barriers in life, only “boulders,” and boulders can be moved with enough ingenuity and people power.
Dr. Forrow challenged attendees to use their Schweitzer Fellowship indoctrination to generate “energy, enthusiasm, and inspiring ideas” in the communities where they live and work. “If you inspire two people… 10 or 14 days later that would be 14 million people. We have enormous potential.”
In a communication prior to the presentation, Dr. Farrow explained his position in greater detail: “Science (not just biology and epidemiology; also “implementation science”) and Human Solidarity need to spread faster than coronavirus. In terms of the laws of physics and biology, this is straightforward – the speed through which knowledge and mutual inspiration spreads in our wired world dwarfs the speed of coronavirus transmission. And the laws of “exponential growth” we all now understand re: coronavirus, are just “math” laws that apply exactly the same to any form of potential “exponential growth”, including in the replication of inspiring acts.” Unfortunately, the same applies to “dis-spiriting acts or words” that are used that demoralizes. He chooses to believe that with human nature, inspiration has a higher rate of return than demoralization, as long as it is presented with as much vigor and consistency. “Unfortunately, I think it is also true that ‘fear’ and ‘panic’ and ‘hate’ have very high (return)…. So, every instance of fear or panic or hate that any of us is able to quiet down, might, in theory, mean literally thousands of other instances prevented.”
One of the goals of the national Albert Schweitzer Fellowship Collaborative is to organize the Fellows for Life into learning and advocacy groups to leverage their impact locally and nationally. To that end, Dr. Forrow offered some advice on advocacy: Write in a way that captures the spirit of Schweitzer; why this situation “moves me;” not to write about problems or concerns that are abstract. “Describe a concrete action that you or someone you know did to make a difference…to catalyze more action or more enthusiasm.”
Jasdeep Kler, a current Detroit Schweitzer Fellow, noted that he is not only expressing gratitude daily, he’s sharing that with family and friends as a way of overcoming social isolation. As john powell, director of the Othering and Belonging Institute at the University of California has warned, we need to distinguish between “social distancing” and “social isolation.”
Dennis Archambault is vice president of Public Affairs for Authority Health.