John Donne and Snow Flakes 2010

The blizzard of 2010 will go down in the record books. It will be highlighted as one of the worst storms in Washington, DC history. It taught us a few lessons.

The first is that a snow flake is one of the smallest of God's creations but when you get a large number of them together, they can be a formidable force. They have certainly done a job on business, industry, and our everyday lives. Many have been without power and others have become dependent on neighbors that they barely acknowledged existed before the storm. "Can I borrow your shovel?"

These snowflakes teach us that we are some how dependent on one another although we sit in our homes writing on Facebook and ordering online in isolation. Without a disaster, do we truly engage other human beings? Do we value them only when we need something from them?

The next lesson is that during this event a prominent Pennsylvania congressman died. He served his country as a Marine on the battlefield and for many years in Congress. He had supporters and detractors as most men do but his death went pretty much under-reported by the media. One radical individual in a Facebook posting celebrated the man's death and called him ugly names. He rejoiced in the man's suffering and demise.

This is where John Donne, the Renaissance man comes into this lesson. His classic statements that "no man is an island" and that "each man's death diminishes me because I am involved in mankind" ring truer today than ever. We may be twenty-first century intellectuals with "advanced" scientific knowledge but the fact remains: no one gets out of this life alive. During that journey every single person will need the help of another person, often a stranger, to make it through. I wonder what John Donne would have told our radical Facebook friend?

Perhaps he would say that we all share a common beginning and end and that we are all connected in a mysterious way. For him, a priest, that connection was through God. For someone else, it might be through Mother Earth. No matter whether we like it or not we share a commonality with each other. Each one of us will have a turn to suffer and then die and so it is foolish and cruel to ever rejoice in another man's misfortune. "...and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."

The Blizzard of 2010 is in its final throws but we must persevere and seek out what is the correct journey for ourselves. Value the people you meet along the way and don't be afraid to collect a few friends who can help you find the way. Going it alone may be impossible. Be a blizzard, not a snowflake.

Check out John Donne- http://isu.indstate.edu/ilnprof/ENG451/ISLAND/