The Bell Tolls

"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 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."
- John Donne, Meditation XVII

"Any man's death diminishes me." Just as any act of violence, of intolerance, of hatred by one of our fellows diminishes us.

Two days ago, an immigrant family in a Denver suburb woke to spray-painted swastikas on their driveway. Can you imagine their terror and uncertainty? What comes after the vandalism?

We either support such actions by remaining silent, by turning aside to the details of our own lives, not affected (yet) by the change of our elected officials, or we protest. If we do not protest, we are complicit in acts of hatred and violence.

It's difficult to resist the seduction of complicity, the desire to return to normal. But we must.

So we march. We send notes of support, petitions against racist appointments, against the loss of our liveable earth. We donate to organizations with good lawyers, we hold painful discussions..

We are not griping, we are not whining. Don't ask for whom we march - we march for you.