The Lawyer and the Astronomer

At 26 years old, a Romanian immigrant to America named Benjamin Ferencz served as one of the chief prosecutors at the Nuremburg trials. The trials were run after World War II to prosecute Nazi leaders for war crimes, and Ferencz knew better than most what these crimes looked like – he served in every major European battle (from the beaches of Normandy to the Battle of the Bulge) as an artilleryman in the American Army and, following the German surrender, collected evidence of war crimes in concentration camps.
It's impossible to experience what he did and not have the entire course of your life changed. Ben Ferencz (after successfully convicting Nazi officers in charge of roaming death squads in Eastern Europe) dedicated his life to changing the way the world views the act of war.

From the 40's until the present day, he has been arguing at the United Nations for the creation of the Crime of Aggression – a legal principle that would make the act of war itself illegal. At the moment, it's not. What Ben Ferencz suggests is a total shift in the way the international community views conflict and violence, and he knows well that it's not going to happen in his lifetime.

He's 94, and he's still working. He regularly attends United Nations General Assembly and Security Council meetings to distribute material promoting the idea of the Crime of Aggression, and he still argues with and attempts to persuade world leaders to secure their support. On the door of his home office, he has a poster with the name 'Tycho Brahe' written in bold. Here's Ben Ferencz in his own words on why that is.

Tycho Brahe was a Danish astronomer, who was supported by a wise old king who was eager to know more about the origins of the universe. A royal astronomical observatory was built for Tycho: for many years, Tycho peered through his handmade telescope and marked the position of all the stars he could see in the universe—which, at that time, were not too many. These markings and movements he recorded on charts that were carefully drawn by his own hand.

When the wise old King passed away to his heavenly repose, the new young King sent his auditors over to see what old Tycho was up to. They woke him, since, as should be obvious, astronomers work at night and sleep by day. "The young King wants to know where all this money is going," was the likely demand. Tycho explained that he had already produced about 89 books of charts of the stars and that each one was guaranteed perfect. "But what do you hope to achieve?"

"Well," replied the patient Tycho, "if I live long enough, I hope to reach a hundred."

"But what is the use of it?" asked his irritated inquisitors. Then Tycho confessed that he had not yet fathomed the mystery of the stars. But he expressed confidence that, one day, someone would be able to detect the pattern and meaning of the universe. Of one thing Tycho was sure: he knew that, because of his own efforts, his successor would be saved twenty years of labor. In fact, the Tables of Tycho, as they came to be called, were used effectively by the first American astronauts who landed on the moon in 1969. I can not be sure that my work will be effective in charting the world toward a more peaceful future, but I do believe, as Tycho did, that I will save the ones who follow me a great deal of time and trouble before they reach that distant goal.

Nobody in this building is going to walk in one day and solve inequality and the problem of poverty. Poverty, like international law, is something that can only be addressed gradually. Ben Ferencz refers to the issue he's facing as a house that can only be built one brick at a time, and 'all I can do is keep building it up.'

If you're ever losing sight of why you're here or what you're achieving, think about the process. Think, like Ben Ferencz does, of what you're providing to the people who'll come after you to finish this work forever.

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