<<April 18, 2008>>
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M. Roy Schwarz, MD
Former President, China Medical Board of New York, Inc. & Institute for International Medical Education
812 Armistead Street
Winchester, Virginia 22601, U.S.A.
Tel.: (540) 678.8748
tcandmr@comcast.net


Dear Roy:

(1) Many thanks for your msg (ATTACHMENT I) in response to the following list distribution;

(04/17/08) "Social Mission" as a direction of Finnish Noblesse Oblige project
http://tinyurl.com/5dap47

Albeit very personal, the following is my answer upon your request.

(2) My father was a surgeon and an obstetrician, as educated at one of prominent Imperial University in Japan.

Right after he married to my mother, he had to move from his home-town providence (which is at the southern tip of the Japan main island and is located directly south of Kyoto City), to Nagano prefecture which is in the middle of mountainous area — about 150 miles north-west from Mt. Fuji.

Although he was only one such medical doctor in such remote/rural area (almost 6 hours train ride to Tokyo at that time), he was an outsider in feudalistic society and hence he could not have enough patients to sustain his small clinic at the beginning.

One winter night with heavy blizzard, he got an urgent call for a house-visit.  Since there was no automobile taxi at that time, the man of the house brought a horse buggy.  My mother put a charcoal pot on the buggy and covered my father with heavy blankets.

He arrived to the house with inches of snow on his blanket after several miles of country roads, and then, found that a young woman gave a birth to a healthy baby, but alas, she herself was already dead with complications.

My father had to go back home in the middle of snowy night.  The family of the woman asked him about the house-visit fee.  My father then replied to them “I cannot receive any fee from Buddha” — in Japan, anyone who was dead becomes a Buddha.

After this story was spread throughout our village, my father got many, many patients — most of them were poor farmers, who could not pay their medial fees to my father.

Then a rumor was spread among them that my father came from the providence which produces famous tasty pickled plum, thus, he had to have loved it.  Lon Behold!!  Since then, those poor farmers brought plum trees one after another from their home gardens and planted them in our farm land -- almost one or two acres.

Spring time, they were with beautiful blossoms and then produced tons of plums in summer.  Next was my mother’s job to produce pickled plum, spending months!!

Next was my job.  I was asked by her to carry vegetables, foods and those pickled plums to her friends in Tokyo — at that time, there was severe food shortage and we had to carry them to those people in Tokyo as riding very crowded trains for many hours.

Those people of her friends then became the Rector of the University of Tokyo, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, etc., etc..  Whenever I brought those food and pickled plums to them, I borrowed their books to satisfy my strong desire for reading — there was severe shortage of books at that time right after the last war.  They were also my mentors as giving me their wisdom how to live a life, too.

(3) When young, my younger brother caught bucket-full of flogs from nearby rice field, and cut them with my father’s doctor knife while I was watching with shiver and murmuring mantra.

I let him inherit my father’s hospital, which he expanded considerably.  He then made substantial amount of money.

<http://tinyurl.com/48to5q>

Since I hated to see blood, I choose my carrier with the “Art of Wisdom/Virtue,” which is to heal illness of nation and globe for global peace as the “Chivalry of Peace” -- my given name in Kanji (or Chinese) character (see above), since I encountered with devastating experience of seeing-off suicide bombers (Kamikaze pilots) to Okinawa battle fields while I was in junior high.

(4) As you say, drumming up “suspicion” and “fear” for militarily, health-wise, or religiously would make easy money.

Strangely enough, the opposite seems not much welcomed — in money wise;

<http://tinyurl.com/3bq5yh>

Best, Tak

---

ATTACHMENT I

From: Roy and Thelma Schwarz <tcandmr@comcast.net>
Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2008 07:29:50 -0400
To: <utsumi@columbia.edu>
Subject: Re: [gu-new] (04/17/08) "Social Mission" as a direction of Finnish Noblesse Oblige project

Tak,
   As I read the comments on nonprofits that are businesses that invest all
the profits back into the business, I was struck by the fact this is exactly
the way that health care used to be. No profits for "investors". Compare
that to the enormous profits that are made now.I have lived through the
transition from one system to the other. Has  this made health care better
for people? I leave that for you to answer.
                                      Roy Schwarz

---

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