For Whom the Bell Tolls

No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each 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 thine own
Or of thine friend's were.
Each man's death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.

::

John Donne wrote this while on what he thought was his death bed (it wasn't) as he had been struck by the plague. And he constantly heard the bells tolling for someone's funeral during those times. He was saying that it didn't matter whose funeral it was because we, mankind, are all the less with this man's passing.

::

I think of this passage because our downstairs neighbor passed away last week. We came home on Friday to a terrible, all-encompassing stench and policemen all around the building. Of course we commented that it smelled like death, but you never think that it actually would be ... It wasn't until today that I discovered that our downstairs neighbor had passed away five days prior to being found. I just saw the lady in 204 on the rooftop on my birthday and we small talked a bit. And to think that in the past few days I had made a loud step and felt self-conscious about disturbing her downstairs, and I didn't even know that she had passed away...