Four hundred years ago John Donne warned England about the impending disaster inherent in another European war. Centuries before, theAnglo-Saxon era was overcome by the pulling together of seven geographic areas previously ruled by feudal families each vying for power, and all under the continual threat of an invasion by Denmark’s Vikings. A unified nation finally emerged, but its existence was further compromised by the Norman invasion and the French victory in the 1066 Battle of Hastings. This isolated island just off the west coast of Europe was never safe from aggressive regimes in France and Spain, and later from the papal passion to reclaim England for Catholicism.
John Donne was a devout Catholic in his early years, but renounced that faith at the age of 38 to become a noted Protestant preacher, and perhaps the best loved of all English poets. Donne lived, however, under the continual fear that his nation would again be divided by a bloody religious or territorial war, and would lose her place as an international power. Fearing the tragic results renewed conflict might bring, he pleaded for the embodiment of international interdependence. If England was to survive, it was essential that she see herself as part of a larger reality, not as an isolated “island, entire of itself.” This plea was at the core of his best-known poem.
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.
Now over 400 years later, the United States finds itself threatening to withdraw from those international structures that in our era ensure a degree of universal protection in a dangerous world. Increasingly nations large and small have known that it is one world and that the survival of any part of it lies in a recognition that what affects one affects all. Perhaps the most telling positive event in recent history has been the creation of the United Nations, and with it The International Court of Justice.
Recently, sensing the potential for global catastrophe posed by climate change, the vast majority of the world’s scientists have banded together to warn everyone of the danger we face unless immediate steps are taken to curb global warming. It is now almost universally recognized that no nation or group of nations can believe that they live independently or can ignore the threats facing our increasingly fragile planet.
Perhaps the most absurd and dangerous notion currently being promulgated is that America’s greatness lies in going it alone, trusting in our ability and our willingness to destroy any country that denies our power, and pretending that to be first depends on our economic or military hegemony. Ours is just no longer that sort of world.
If we ever had the power to successfully thumb our nose at the United Nations; to deny that we can be subject to the rulings of The International Court of Justice; to stand isolated from the commitment of the world’s scientists, these arrogant absurdities now constitute a formula for disaster not only for us but also for all life on this tiny rock. We need each other, and wisdom lies not only in our interdependence but also in our willingness to watch out for the safety of all the world’s people.
No, Donald Trump, America is not is an island entire of itself.
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