The Patient and the Ship Owner | 病人与船主

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This incident occurred one morning outside Albert Schweitzer's hospital in the African jungle. A patient had gone fishing in another man's boat. The owner of the boat thought he should be given all the fish that were caught.

Dr. Schweitzer said to the boat owner:

"You are right because the other man ought to have asked permission to use your boat. But you are wrong because you are careless and lazy. You merely twisted the chain of your canoe round a palm tree instead of fastening it with a padlock. Of laziness you are guilty because you were asleep in your hut on this moonlit night instead of making use of the good opportunity for fishing."

He turned to the patient:

"But you were in the wrong when you took the boat without asking the owner's permission. You were in the right because you were not so lazy as he was and you did not want to let the moonlit night go by without making some use of it."

Dr. Schweitzer divided the catch among the fisherman, the boat owner, and the hospital.

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