Norman Borlaug (1914 - 2009) A Lutheran Christian Born in Saude, Iowa (Population of about 20) Of Norwegian Immigrant Stock, Begins A Journey That Will See Him Mentioned As Saving The Most Human Lives Of All Time From Starvation! While He May Or May Not Be Deserving Of That Actual Title, Good Job Norman!!! Thank You Iowa. It Probably Counts As Yet Again Another Win For Jesus.
It is hard to say which human saved the most human lives ever, in the flesh, that is. For one thing, it could be someone who made something happen, or it could be someone who stopped something from happening. I have heard about a Soviet submarine officer who refused an order to fire nuclear missiles because he suspected that the order was false. If he prevented a nuclear war, and he probably did, he would probably be a top contender. But there are people who save others from deaths that are coming for them...deaths brought by nature, starvation, for instance. And there is a man named Norman Borlaug, a Lutheran Christian man from Iowa, who is sometimes credited with having saved over 1 billion humans from starvation by developing better, tougher, more prolific grain varieties and then personally convincing people in Mexico and around India to try them, to plant them widely while there was still time, because he had developed them for better yields and more resistance to plant disease and he knew these skeptical nations he spoke to were in great danger. Does that sound like a boring way to save lives? Undramatic? Maybe compared to some sorts of rescues, but he was a big player in what was termed 'the Green Revolution' of the 1970's, wherein huge swaths of humanity were saved from dying during food shortages by developing hybrid grains, scientifically bred grains. Jesus fed the crowd of 4,000 and at another time the crowd of 5,000 by producing a form of bread that was a miracle (self multiplying bread!) But God allowed another sort of miracle to be accomplished by raising up a certain person fit to meet a certain emergency at a certain time. It is one of the ways that God sometimes chooses to bless humanity.
Norman Borlaug was a chosen instrument of sorts, by that definition. He was a humble man. He felt that one of the ways to promote peace in the world was to make sure that everyone had enough food. He felt it was important to Jesus that everyone should have enough food. It was part of loving your neighbor. It was a form of service. And he did receive some very prestigious awards later. But he did what he did quietly for the most part. God wants His servants to serve humbly...it is seemly. After all, a Christian is a doomed sinner that was saved by the teachings and the hard, grossly unfair death of Jesus of Nazareth, the true Son of God made into the flesh of a human man to walk among us and teach a better way, and then to die for us. The glory should go to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and it is said that Norman Borlaug understood this.
We can all mostly agree that dying of starvation is not an easy way to go. If Norman saved a billion people starting in the 1970's, how many people would that add up to today if you count their descendants who are alive only because their grand-parents didn't starve to death? And so, it seems fair to note that God used a Lutheran American Christian, of far traveled immigrant sons and daughters of Norway named Norman Borlaug to be a principal figure in this low key, largely unsung rescue of maybe a billion people.
If you went down the street asking who Norman Borlaug was, very few people are likely to know, I think. But among ordinary humans, he MAY have saved more lives than anyone else. Maybe. Norman...a grain varieties improver. He ought to be deserving of a tip of the hat, anyway. So here he is, yet another person that Jesus put to good use it would seem, for the welfare of his neighbors.
Norman, your service is not forgotten. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Iowa. Thank you, Norway.