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And in 1955, Thomas Merton wrote, "Only when we see ourselves in our true human context, as members of a race which is intended to be one organism and "one body", will we begin to understand the positive importance not only of the successes but of the failures and accidents in our lives. My successes are not my own. The way to them was prepared by others. The fruit of my labours is not my own: for I am preparing the way for the acheivements of another. Nor are my failures my own. They may spring from the failure of another, but they are compensated for by another's acheivement. Therefore the meaning in my life is not to be looked for merely in the sum of my own acheivements. It is seen only in the complete integration of my acheivements and failures with the acheivements and failures of my own generation, and society, and time... That was what the poet John Donne realized during a serious illness when he heard a death knell tolling for another... Every other man is a piece of myself, for I am a part and a member of mankind." .......................From "No Man Is An Island", Thomas Merton All that we are, and all that we do, belongs to everyone. Joan U. Jorge A Romero, MD wrote: >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 bells >tolls; it tolls for thee. > >>From Devotions upon Emergent Occasions (in section 17) by John Donne quoted >by Hemmingway for the book "For Whom the Bell Tolls" >>And Juanita Hibbert wrote: >> Janet, your words brought to my mind >> a song I learned as a teenager. >> No Man Is An Island., >> The words are very profound. >> No man is an island, no man stands alone. >> Each mans joy is joy to me . >> I cannot remember the rest right this moment. >> However I believe the first line says it all! >> Juanita CG for George 74/71/64