The "debate" over a doctor's participation in North Carolina executions brought to mind an "anti-war" poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay . . . once set powerfully to music by Mary Travers of Peter Paul & Mary fame:
Conscientious Objector
I shall die, but that is all that I shall do for Death.
I hear him leading his horse out of the stall;
I hear the clatter on the barn-floor.
He is in haste; he has business in Cuba,
business in the Balkans,
many calls to make this morning.
But I will not hold the bridle while he cinches the girth.
And he may mount by himself:
I will not give him a leg up.
Though he flick my shoulders with his whip,
I will not tell him which way the fox ran.
With his hoof on my breast,
I will not tell him where the black boy hides in the swamp.
I shall die, but that is all that I shall do for Death;
I am not on his pay-roll.
I will not tell him the whereabouts of my friends nor of my enemies either.
Though he promise me much, I will not map him the route to any man's door.
Am I a spy in the land of the living, that I should deliver men to Death?
Brother, the password and the plans of our city are safe with me;
never through me shall you be overcome.
Food for thought for physicians who took The Oath and would dance on the edge of this issue.
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1 comments:
I'm one of the few on line who is old enough to remember this era. We believed that we could save the world. It hurt when we found out we couldn't. This latest college age group is the first in a long time to remind me a bit of us. Just as mucvh passion but tempered with pragmatism too. The great difference is that they are actually volunteering to help others. We didn't grow up in a culture of volunteerism so we just made a lot of noisy demands. They just may make the difference. I wish them good fortune. BB
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