nO mAn iS aN iSlaNd

No man is an island
although it sometimes seems so to me....

I have been doing a lot of thinking lately
replaying my life
thinking about stuff
sick in bed
gallstones
lots of prophetic thoughts
ideas
song lyrics
books
projects
come to me when I am down and out
Today I thought of the saying
"no man is an island".
I had no idea what it really meant
but then...I did.
I researched it and felt that it fit
the slot that I had defined for it already
in my brain
it describes an ideal world
a world where people really care
about each other and are there for each other
this world is not ideal
and I think people are often too busy
to care.

No Man Is an Island Lyrics
Artist(Band): Joan Baez

No man is an island,
No man stands alone,
Each man's joy is joy to me,
Each man's grief is my own.

We need one another,
So I will defend,
Each man as my brother,
Each man as my friend.

I saw the people gather,
I heard the music start,
The song that they were singing,
Is ringing in my heart.

No man is an island,
Way out in the blue,
We all look to the one above,
For our strength to renew.

When I help my brother,
Then I know that I,
Plant the seed of friendship,
That will never die.

John Donne

Meditation XVII: No man is an island...

"All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated...As therefore the bell that rings to a sermon, calls not upon the preacher only, but upon the congregation to come: so this bell calls us all: but how much more me, who am brought so near the door by this sickness....No man is an island, entire of itself...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."

Is it I who has not yet learned to ring the bell

or is it that those who hear it choose not to listen?