The End of October

by Lawrence Wright

“There flashed upon my mind, unforeseen and unsought: Reverence for Life,” he wrote. Ethics, Schweitzer decided, was nothing more than that.

“Reverence for Life affords me my fundamental principle of morality, namely, that good consists in maintaining, assisting and enhancing life, and that to destroy, to harm or to hinder life is evil.”

He could easily have lived alone. Indeed, he thought this would be his destiny. But then he found Jill and they began a life together, and children came, and love called Henry into the world.

I often think that if God made us the way we are, he made an animal that threatens to destroy his entire creation. On the other hand, if nature made us, as I believe, we’ve evolved into a species that is almost godlike in every respect. All the power we have, all the creativity, all the wisdom! But there’s a piece of genetic code inside us that wants to blow it all to pieces.”