“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed individuals can change the world. In fact, it’s the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead
With help from an essay by Joanna Strong and Tom B. Leonard, from The Book of Virtues, edited by William J. Bennett.
The year was 1862. The Civil War was raging in America. In the battlefields of the country, men were dying, left maimed and bleeding on the field until the battle was over and they could be collected and taken to hospitals, far from the lines of battle. Many of them never made it to hospital, transported in rough horse-drawn wagons over bumpy terrain and often bleeding to death on the way. Soldiers in the heat of battle could not take time to care for their wounded comrades.
But one day a soldier, badly injured and in danger of losing a leg, came to consciousness on the battlefield to find a woman bending over him. He thought he was hallucinating – who was this angel of mercy? Had he died and gone to heaven? No women were allowed anywhere near the lines of battle. But this one was right in the thick of things. Her name was Clara Barton, and after many persistent attempts to persuade him, she had managed to wrest from the commanding officer a pass that would allow her to go onto the field to minister to the wounded.
With the help of two soldiers, she lifted the wounded man onto a stretcher. She bound up his leg, gave him a pain-killing draft, got him into a crude horse-drawn ambulance which carried him away from the fray while the fighting was still ongoing, and gave him a chance at life.
Clara Barton was an American nurse who had been haunted for months by the idea of men dying on the battlefield, who might be saved with timely care if it could be given right on the field. She procured a van, equipped it with medicine and first-aid supplies, and then paid a visit to the general to plead her case. “What you ask is impossible!” he told her. “The battlefield is no place for a woman.” And that, he thought, was the end of that.
But Clara was not deterred. Determined to change his mind, she appeared before him many times, making the same request and being consistently refused – until one day, wishing to rid himself of this constant pest who would not go away, the general gave in and granted her access.
During the entire course of the Civil War, Clara ministered to all she could reach on the battlefield. Working unceasingly, she bound up wounds, splinted limbs, offered water and comfort, and got them out of the fighting and on their way to hospital.
As what she was accomplishing became more evident, her presence on the battlefield began to be more widely accepted, and the army began to help. They supplied more medical equipment, more vans, and more men to drive them. Clara Barton’s name became a byword in the army, spoken of with love and gratitude.
When the war ended, Clara did not go home and put her feet up. She could not stop thinking of the many wives, children and families who did not know for sure what had happened to their husbands, fathers and sons. She was determined to learn the fate of those missing soldiers and set the hearts of their loved ones at rest, and worked tirelessly to that end.
When she learned that there was a man in Switzerland, Jean Henry Dunant, who had a plan to help soldiers in wartime, she headed to Switzerland to learn more. Going to Switzerland in the 19th century did not mean a few hours in an airplane; it meant several weeks of travel by sea and by land. Dunant had formed an organization called the Red Cross, whose workers were to wear a red cross on a white background so they could be easily identified. They were to be allowed free access to battlefields to help all soldiers, no matter their nationality, race or creed.
Fired up with this new and innovative idea, Clara returned to America and convinced the United States Government to join with the other 22 member nations to give money and supplies to the International Red Cross, organized to help soldiers in wartime. But she didn’t stop there; she added to the plan what came to be called the American Amendment, to include the many other calamities that befall mankind: earthquakes, floods, forest fires, epidemics, tornadoes, hurricanes – disasters which kill and wound many and leave others homeless and starving. The Red Cross, she said, should reach out to help all such victims, no matter where in the world these events take place.
Today, the International Red Cross brings comfort and relief to millions all over the world who are victims of disaster, not forgetting Clara Barton, the founder of its American wing. Her determination, courage and love for humanity will be forever remembered.