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On the Shores of Lake Geneva
By Barbara Isbister
On the walls outside a house overlooking the lake, the following words from a speech by a famous person are
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‘I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be an emperor. That’s not my business. I don’t want to rule or
conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone, if possible, Jew, Gentile, black men, white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other’s happiness, not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone. And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way. Greed has poisoned men’s souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed.
… In the seventeenth chapter of St Luke, it is written that the kingdom of God is within man, not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you! You, the people, have the power. … The power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure.’
The person who wrote these words came from a very poor background. He lived with his
mother and older brother. Their father had abandoned them. They lived in extreme
poverty, frequently having no money for food and constantly moving from one squalid
rented room in the suburbs of London to another. His mother was forced to enter a
workhouse on more than one occasion, taking her sons with her. But the boys had many
talents and were keen to use them.
Years later, when the youngest son had become famous, he travelled the world, meeting
many people from all walks of life, including important politicians and scientists. He spent
some time in America. However, due to the misinterpretation of some of his ideas, he was
not allowed a visa to re-enter and live in the United States.
Eventually, he settled in Switzerland. On the shores of Lake Geneva, on the outskirts of a
town called Vevey, stands an imposing house, with gardens overlooking the lake and
mountains. For the last twenty-five years of his life, the man lived there with his wife and
children.
Who was he?
Answer on Page 82
