Today is December 18, 2012, and I certainly, like the rest of the world, did not anticipate that I would be grieving for the community of Newtown, Connecticut. Actually, I do not even want to write this BLOG, but my heart says that I must in order, in my very small way, honor those brave people who now must go on with their lives, forever changed. I want them to know that I grieve with them even though I cannot begin to feel the depth of hurt they must feel for the losses they have experienced. "As if the soul's fullness didn't sometimes overflow into the emptiest of metaphors for,no one, EVER, can give the exact measure of his needs, his apprehensions, or his sorrows; and human speech is like a cracked cauldron on which we bang out tunes that make bears dance, when we want to move the stars to pity." (Flaubert) I am also thinking of the ancient words of Seneca (4 B.C-A.D.65) who said, in a letter to Lucilius, "Sometimes even to live is an act of courage." It will take great courage to continue to live, and go on in this community, and the families there will need our thoughts and prayers for a very long time. As many of you know, I have a great love of poetry, and sometimes, poetry speaks the words we ourselves cannot say; they often convey a feeling we have within us that wants to express itself, and today, I reread John Donne's poem, "No Man is an Island," and it helped me with what I am feeling. For this reason, I wish to share it here.
NO MAN IS AN ISLAND by John Donne (1572-1631) London, England
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 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.
Today, the world, and the people who inhabit it, are surly diminished by the terrible tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut.
NO MAN IS AN ISLAND by John Donne (1572-1631) London, England
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 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.
Today, the world, and the people who inhabit it, are surly diminished by the terrible tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut.
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