Dooley, Thomas A.

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The Linacre QuarterlyVolume 25 | Number 2 Article 3May 1958A Special DesignThomas A. DooleyFollow this and additional works at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/lnqRecommended CitationDooley, Thomas A. (1958) "A Special Design," The Linacre Quarterly: Vol. 25 : No. 2 , Article 3.Available at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/lnq/vol25/iss2/3A SPECIAL DESIGN Thomas A. Dooley, M.D. Dr. Thomas A. Dooley is the 31-year-o{d author of the 1956 b<:: :t seller, DELIVER Us FROM EVIL, the story of his work as a Navy doct )r amongst the Catholic refugees of North Viet Nam. With the r:oyalti 'S from that book he returned and spent 16 months in the jungles of la •s where he built a small hospital. He recently returned to America a1 d has written a new book on his work in a hut of a hospital. it is to e published this month, The Edge of Tomorrow. He i:s now currem y lecturing around the country and arranging for the departure of t 1e teams of MEDICO of the International Rescue Committee. Anyo ,e interested in this program can reach him at Box 2, Times Square, New York, New York. I once asked a Chinese commu­nist officer. "Why are you, an educated mandarin, a member of the Communist Party?" His reply was staggering. He said, "I. am a communist because you Christians are not very good Christians." It sounds paradoxical. Upon close a.nalysis it makes sense. Honest self-examination reveals that there is a chasm between what we Christians of the world pro­claim ourselves to be, and the ac .... tual practice of our lives. There is a great deal of blather and bleat these days about "The Brother­hood of Man." "The Community of Nations." ''The Love of Man­kind.·· "The Spirit of Humanity." But to many Asians this looks more like selfish national interests, a community of larger nations to control the smaller, a love of man -kind-if that segment of mankind follows our policy-and a spirit of humanity-if that portion of hu­manity can enter· into defense alli­ances with us. 52 The pious phrases of democra y do not translate well into Asi. n tongues. Most Asians could 1 Jt care less about the magnificence )f Mount Vernon, or the glories Jf flush plumbing. Most of them we. nt their own nation respeCted, th ·ir own dignity upheld, and their ovn voice heard. At Bandung it w.ts said. ''For Centuries we Asi.::ns have been voiceless in the wor;d. White men have spoken for ·1s. But from now on the world sh.dJ hear the voice of the voiceless." A few decades ago. a voice frnm Asia meant little to America. Asia was half a world away. Save for the valiant miss ionaries  ,vho fought the savage jungles of the world, few men had much cont.:1ct with the "yellow hordes" of Asia. Perhaps it was difficult to "stretch" with our christianity that far. Per� haps it was not always economic.­ally feasible. But now, in 1958, the earth has shrunk too much to per­mit Americans to live in an isolated mansion in the midst of world LINACRE QUARTERLY slums. Two-thirds of the hum race today are miserable. To the, adequate medical care is absolute inaccessible. That is bad enou, 1 but they are maturing, and becc· ing convinced that their plighr not inevitable. Many blame th. r" situation on the poor adminh '., tion of their country in the h.:;i of the white man. They are fier:.,. 1\ determined never to be ruled by the white man again. This me:1?1s rule by any means whatsoever. in� eluding economic control. The voice of Asia is being heard and it could well be the herald of world disaster. If we, of the Judeo-Chrisrian world· believe our beliefs, then we recognize our own deep involve­ment in the lives of men every­where. If we, as men born in free­dom, accept this involvement. then we must accept its chal1engc. The people of other lands need and seek our service. They do not want our patronage. Our own country's foreign aid program is doing a great deal to give ilJustration in deed what we proclaim as our creed. We must continue this if we are to continue to have any form of peace. But a government can go on]y so far. No government program can ever rer place the individual. No foreign economic program can ever replace the individual sense of self-reli­ance, initiative, or self-responsi­bility. More must be done and it must be done now. Distance has dulled our aware­ness. America is not fully awak­ened to the realization that medi­cine is a powerful instrument for international  friendship. With MAY, 1958 medicine we can p;- ,ject our hu­manitarian impulses �oss n2tional boundaries, in a wa: ,ften unreal­izable by the despc · ·ly needed, but frequently impe1 ·,d, govern-ment aid programs. F ;i my own personal experiences .i hut of a hospital in Laos, and ., the evacu­ation Of more than 650.000 ref­ugees of Viet Nam, r have seen the power of gentleness, the mag­nificence of kindness. From a mo­ment's glance at the work of such men as Gordon Seagrave, Albert Schweitzer. and Howard Rusk. one can quickly grasp the fact that medicine has a unique role, a spe­cial design for destiny. The role of medicine in human destiny is far above the give and take of national rivalries. Medicine rises above the fears of colonial­ism, or of domination by selfish foreign interests. And at the same time. medicine affords American doctors a unique opportunity for service to all mankind. Our task, as doctors. is to take care of people who are sick. If this has an ac­companying result in aid to our nation's interests, then it is, like mercy, "twice blessed." Our J udeo-Christian school of philosophy speaks of the oneness of man. All man belongs to man. Man has claims on man. The crisis of our day demands a re-affirma­tion in practice, of this funda­mental belief. We must act it out. each of us, individually. Abandoning now all academic and auspicious verbiage, let me tell you of a bold and ambitious ne� program, just inau_gurated this February. Under the aegis of the International Rescue Committee, a . 53 uests.- There we shall buil .:l, .. k. and supply a hospital. Th n will train the personnel. ME J­ll wishes to build no dynasti( s.\,\ i: want to train indigenous pt :­so:i nel to a level easily reacht :i. \, ithout any attempts to ma :e them internationally rec  o g n i z dMo's or RN's. Then when t .e hut-of-a-hospital is turned over :o the host government, the team v II move to another area, and bu danother hospital where the he 3t government so wishes. I believe that long-range e< )­nomic aid programs are essenti ,I.but indefinite dependence on , id errodes self-respect. MEDICO isaimed at the level of the human :y with whom we shall work, and ;e intend to work through the h, st government department of heal h. We shall endeavor to work 01.r­selves out of a job-as soon as possible. Medical Inte�·· ational Cooperation program ha ieen formed. ME0-1co of the 1 ·, has a very simple purpose. y'\ .., are going to offer person-to-p .. r. un medical service to the peoples,,/ the world who need us. We are hJt a charity program. Those we C<lre for will pay us, as my patients paid me in Laos. In my hospital in Nam Tha, a deliv­ery costs a chicken, an operation, a pig, piJls cost one egg ( and fre­quently I was· forced to "split myfee" with the local witch doctor). MEDICO wiJl send medical teams out into the most miserable villages of the world to simply practice our profession, to take care of people who "ain't got it so good." We are not going to try to make new Republicans, or Irish Catholics out of them. We shall not proselytize.We are a non-government, non­sectarian group. We shall. train the villagers to maintain that which we build, without any at­tempts to make them air-condi­tioned, chrome-plated, tail-finned isomers . of Americans. We shall train the local personnel to a level at which they can handle the basic problems of a "jungle general practice." From my experience in Asia, this should take about 18 months. Each MEDICO team will cc,1-sist of a physician and seve al medically trained personnel. Te.,mmembers will be men and worr.ln who are dedicated to service to humanity. MEDICO will ena!,le them to give practical expressi•Jn of love of mankind-an opportun­ity altogether too rare amidst the fears and obscurity of our time. We . are seeking physicians throughout the country to workwith us. We shall build nothing beyondtheir own capacity to maintain after our departure. No generat­ors. no electronic physiotherapyparaphernalia - nothing that thevillagers themselves cannot learnto handle. We aim at no perpetuity. Wewish to work ourselves out of a job. We. intend to go to whatever distant village the host government54 We wish to give capable doc­tors a place to invest something of their humanity for a few years of their lives. From the great awareness of the pharmaceutical houses of America, we have already been given more than $600,000 worth of supplies. LINACRE QUARTERLY The financial support is now heir solicited from the general pub, of this country, living in compar· tive plenty. So far we are !. doing so well in this dollar st. port. but feel that "with the 1�of the Irish" and, most of all, Grace of God we will make ir . We have been formally inv·" ·c{ into many Asian countries._ and :11.1: . experience leads us to b�heve tn,�tthe host governments will be ,� u.­ing to furnish the assistance, a11d personnel. needed l com1 lement each team. We hope that thr, h this pro-gram we who believe ·God will be better Christians, ter _men.and closer to Him inc· . c.crv1ce to "The Least of These.' MEoico of the International Rescue Committee will not stop the march of commtinism . across the bloody face of the world, but we firmly believe that it is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness. Dr. Dooley at a Laos Village sick call MAY, 1958 

A Special Design

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A Special Design

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