2003.38.25

1971
Gift of Buck Joseph
2003.38.25

small, round white button with blue writing "Involved in Mankind" around the circumfrence, in the center is an iconic image of the world, with a caduceus (medical symbol- long staff with two serpents wrapped around, and wings at the top).

This button most likely refers to Doctors Without Borders (Medecins sans Frontiers in French). MSF was founded in 1971 by a small group of French doctors who believed that all people have the right to medical care regardless of race,religion, creed or political affiliation, and that the needs of these people supersede respect for national borders. It was the first non-governmental organization to both provide emergency medical assistance and publicly bear witness to the plight of the populations they served. "Involved in Mankind" refers to a quote by John Donne "No man is an Island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee."
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