No Man is an Island

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 any manner of thy friends 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.

These words by John Donne from the 1624 Meditation 17,
from Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions

The words of this poem show that all people are the same and everyone should be treated with equal respect. "No man is an island entire of itself...' Nobody is alone in this world, everyone is a part of something bigger. Today nobody cares about people out of their families, and some people don't even care about their family. Tomorrow everyone will be sitting in with their iPads on facebook or texting on their iPhone. "... any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind..." is what people should be thinking like. Everybody is connected some way or the other, even if you don't know it.

In the story The Island by Armin Greder, the ‘stranger’ was immediately judged because he wasn’t exactly like everybody else on the island. Greder tried to draw attention to the face that all people are the same and deserve equal respect and treatment. The ‘stranger’ is naked because it shows weakness, hopelessness and makes him seem vulnerable. He was sent to the uninhabited part of the island and kept in a goat pen, being treated like an animal. The islanders are actually scared of the stranger but they still hold their weapons high and try to keep him away from the rest of the people. Throughout the story, except for the part where the stranger is being sent away; the islanders and the stranger are never shown on the same page. Greder was trying to create an effect of isolation by keeping the stranger and the islanders on different pages. Soon even the children on the island were being taught about the stranger in the goat pen who is a savage, bone eating freak. Rumours spread and people started fearing this man.

The poet John Donne wrote a poem emphasizing on the topic of ‘all men are equal.’ Every man is just as important as another and every one’s voice should be heard. There is enough space on Earth for every human to be included. The video ‘No Man is an Island’ was shot on cell phones in Sydney and New York. This video shows that everybody deserves a friend and we all belong somewhere. Every man is a part of something bigger than their own individual lives. If something happens to one man, it effects the entire world even in the slightest ways. As John Donne said ‘And therefore never send to know for whom, the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.’

We are all a part of mankind and none of us deserve to be alone. Buddha spent his entire life trying to help other people by finding out how not to suffer. Zeus claimed that man was created to worship him. Neither of these people said that everyone has the right to belonging and happiness. Nobody should be left alone to cry, laugh, live or die. Everybody belongs somewhere, we are all a part of something bigger, no man is an island.

Nobody is alone.