No man is an island

This past week NEWS yielded some of the most spectacularly improbable headlines any could have anticipated:

• Canadian Election results in the NDP forming the Official Opposition
• Osama bin Ladin killed by US Navy Seals
• Tornadoes in the US
  
• Flooding in Canada
  

These stories kept the media types busy, but at least it was 'real' news and not yet another non-story about Charlie Sheen "winning" or Lindsay Lohan getting arrested again! The list, as usual, goes on and on, but there were a few others that didn't have the talking heads as busy:

• Canada commemorates the Battle of the Atlantic
• Oldest combat veteran from WWI dies

I often think about the men and women who serve, and have served for their countries. I don't know if I will ever be able to say thank you in a way that is meaningful. I love the fact that our Canadian Armed Forces have been better known to the world for their peace-keeping missions than as fierce fighters. But I also like that they can kick-ass when need arises!

A few years ago I was reminded of a mediation that was written by a man named John Donne. Mr Donne published Meditation No. 17 in 1624 as part of book called "Devotions upon Emergent Occasions". I read and reflect on this meditation as part of how I remember those who serve...and have served. So maybe on this eve of Mother's Day, and in my round about way...this is how I can remember my mom.

Mom never wore a uniform, but she served none-the-less by working throughout WWII for Canadian National Rail in Halifax Nova Scotia. She worked arranging trains to drop off troops and supplies at the ships and made sure there were trains to greet the ships that were coming back with the sick, wounded and returning troops.

Whenever I read Meditation No. 17, I can hear my mother reciting it from memory. She could do that ... recite things that she had learned as a school girl. This is a shortened version, but the whole meditation is very short and well worth a few moments:

"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."

John Donne Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, no. 17 (Meditation) 1624 (published) The complete Meditation can be found on many Internet sites, but here is one that I located with a simple Google search.