The poem by John Donne means that man should be looked at as a whole. Every mans death makes Europe smaller. " Every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main" Everybody has a part and people depend on that.We are interconnected and therefore responisble for each other. "Every man's death diminsishes me"not just literally death but suffering/oppression. All this suffering is taking away from the respect and concern we should show and share for our community.
In Arman Greder's "The Island" a man washes up on shore carried by the raging rapids of the sea. This 'outsider' asks for assistance, all he wants is safety, to be treated fairly, and food. Instead the island natives exclude him to the other side of the island where he is left to rot in a pig pen. But one day he shows up in the center of the village roaming and trying desperately to find food. The villagers have no choice but to feed him and after long arguing they feed him the scraps that they would usually feed to the pigs. Then decide he has to go. But the fisherman stands up to his community and says this isn't right. The villagers end up burning his boat letting him to suffer and find a new career. To have to be fed pig scraps to survive. How low can you go? Would you give a visitor the your scraps? It's just inhumane. So to avoid all of this the natives of the island build a wall around their island, and whenever they see a seagull or a ship passing by they shoot it down. All this occurs because of our reaction to "otherness", seeing people as outsiders. They think "Oh, they're not one of us." They can't see the fact that nobody is useless, we are interconnected, and everybody has a role.
The short film "Mankind is no Island" by Jason Van Genderen also suggests the importance of helping the vulnerable making sure they're in the loop. But may I ask you what is our responsibility? To see a fellow human being in need and to pass by imagining that they aren't really there? They are and you can't escape reality. You see them there but you don't even bother. People contribute to society but sometimes they are in a state of vulnability and need help. Do you help? Do you contribute to your community? Should we not feel concern for our fellow human beings? People who are suffering and don't have much at all should have the right to a better life, shouldn't they? Not just on a global level but every day how do we acknwledge the people around us? It makes me think about what I do to speak up or consider the vulnerable on the street or anywhere for that matter. If I have some money on me I donate. But do you? Should you? You might think that that dollar or two don't make a difference. So you don't bother. But what if you and the person sitting next to you and the person next to him and so on donated. Wouldn't that make a difference? But we don't all donate. So for those who do just give what you have and hope it can help. Because if we don't try we'll never succeed. Perhaps it's not just donating but realizing that we are all human and to see the humanity in each of us, to recognize it in our everyday lives with gestures as simple as a smile.
The painting that I selected was by Paul Klee and it is entiled "Highway and byways". To me it shows how fragile we are as a community. If one brick should fall we would still stand tall. But without the support of that brick another will fall and another until we perish. One man after the other the vunrable will perish and the strong will become weak. "Any man's death diminishes me,because I am involved in mankind." Until all of mankind finds that connection, and feel respect for each other our society will continue to unravel.
