Independence
Independence may be a virtue but it has its limits. In fact, in recent times fear of strangers and economic uncertainty has led many in the Anglo-Saxon world to strive for a kind of selfish independence that is harmful for ourselves as well as for our neighbours. John Donne, a former Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral and metaphysical poet touched upon this in his meditations on human destiny:
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man 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 thy friend’s or of thine own were:
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.
(From John Donne’s Meditation XVII)
Bernhard Schunemann
2 July 2017
