For those of you today who are thinking on the tragic loss of talented singer Amy Winehouse or a close friend or loved one who has been lost in the past day;
For those of you who are horror-struck by the loss of 91 lives in Oslo;
and,
For those of you who are unable to forget the hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children lost each day in Africa and around the world from starvation, sanitation, war, and violence, think on these immortal words from poet John Donne:
No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each 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 thine own
Or of thine friend's were.
Each man's death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.
In other words, every life lost in this earth is a loss to the world and thus a loss to you. Every individual death diminishes you and I because we are all part of the whole.
No one today should be playing the greater-than, less-than game with the tragedies being suffered by the world because each loss is equal at the individual level.
Mourn as you will, but keep in mind:
(1) The hatred and fear of difference that led to the shooting and bombing in Oslo is ever-present in your own society. You can best serve the victims of the tragedy by fighting that fear and hatred in your own communities and in your own homes.
(2) The addiction that ultimately claimed the life of Amy Winehouse claims lives each and every day around the world and is a societal problem as much as it is an individual's problem. Look around at the ignorance surrounding addiction in your own society and think on the situation that leads to drug-use and eventual overdose.
(3) The world's consumption that fuels our economic growth also fuels violence against nature and our fellow man. The resource-rich continent of Africa has suffered generations of this abuse. Because people are so poor and ill-equipped they cannot find clean water or grow food. They cannot afford drugs to tame rampant disease. What little resources there are to be had are the spoils of warring factions that abuse and murder their people. These issues are present at home as well in the people who become victims of poverty in our own society.
No man is an island...
... Send not to know for whom the bell tolls.
It tolls for thee.
For those of you who are horror-struck by the loss of 91 lives in Oslo;
and,
For those of you who are unable to forget the hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children lost each day in Africa and around the world from starvation, sanitation, war, and violence, think on these immortal words from poet John Donne:
No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each 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 thine own
Or of thine friend's were.
Each man's death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.
In other words, every life lost in this earth is a loss to the world and thus a loss to you. Every individual death diminishes you and I because we are all part of the whole.
No one today should be playing the greater-than, less-than game with the tragedies being suffered by the world because each loss is equal at the individual level.
Mourn as you will, but keep in mind:
(1) The hatred and fear of difference that led to the shooting and bombing in Oslo is ever-present in your own society. You can best serve the victims of the tragedy by fighting that fear and hatred in your own communities and in your own homes.
(2) The addiction that ultimately claimed the life of Amy Winehouse claims lives each and every day around the world and is a societal problem as much as it is an individual's problem. Look around at the ignorance surrounding addiction in your own society and think on the situation that leads to drug-use and eventual overdose.
(3) The world's consumption that fuels our economic growth also fuels violence against nature and our fellow man. The resource-rich continent of Africa has suffered generations of this abuse. Because people are so poor and ill-equipped they cannot find clean water or grow food. They cannot afford drugs to tame rampant disease. What little resources there are to be had are the spoils of warring factions that abuse and murder their people. These issues are present at home as well in the people who become victims of poverty in our own society.
No man is an island...
... Send not to know for whom the bell tolls.
It tolls for thee.
