Hope for a Reinstated Culture of Character

My father and I have been reading the book Mount Pleasant Cemetery by Mike Filey. It has stories of influential people who are interred in this beautiful, Toronto-based cemetery. Among those laid to rest are Frederick Banting and Charles Best.

Banting and Best were two of four doctors (including J.R.R. Macleod and J.B Collip) who worked together in their quest to find a cure for diabetes at the University of Toronto. The team managed to isolate and purify insulin. "Banting and Macleod were awarded a Nobel Prize for the most important medical discovery of 1923. Annoyed that Best was overlooked by the selection committee, Banting decided to share his half of the $11,200 award with his colleague and friend. Following Banting's lead, Macleod did the same with Collip."

Frederick Banting refused to put his name on the patent. He felt it was unethical for a doctor to profit from a discovery that would save lives. Banting's co-inventors sold the insulin patent to the University of Toronto for a mere $1.

Although the relationship of the four doctors was not without conflict it is a wonderful example of people and an organization operating under a culture of character. It makes me hopeful that while the world looks for balance in these new and strange times, integrity of character will be reinstated as the most important resource each of us can possess.