Any Man's Death Diminishes Me

"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 any 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, 1624 Meditation 17 from Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions

John Donne's meditation and Armin Greder's The Island share similar themes. Donne describes mankind as a continent, and any individual man is a piece of the whole; "a part of the main". The death of any one man breaks away their piece of the continent, making the whole smaller and less great. Greder's characters in The Island established a similar theme.

A stranger washed up on a beach is different from the inhabitants of the beach's island. The majority of the island locals suggest that he is returned to his raft and sent out back to sea. A fisherman who deals with the sea daily claims that sending the stranger away would result in his death. Though he gets to stay on the island, he is neglected and viewed as a savage. In the end, he is returned to the sea that brought him to the island. The fisherman, who was obliged to help the stranger, was punished with the burning of his fishing boat.  The island is later surrounded by a large wall, and birds that come near are shot down, to ensure "different" people never find their island again.  

Though Donne's poem and Greder's story have different moods and endings, they share similar ideas.  People who discriminate others are the lesser.  The killing or ignoring of another human being causes you and your people to be smaller.  The island's people shunned a man they think of as different, and ended up isolated and alone on their island.  Only living close to people you accept as your own "kind" causes you to be close-minded, and in the end, alone.  An island.   

Science Long Term Homework

Task B: Visit this site and choose 5 tasks to complete.

I chose:

Task 35

Task 77

Task 90

Task 94

Task 95

35: In a garden flower, figure out the different parts. Locate the stamens (pollen-producing male part, consisting of filament and anther), pistil (female part that will mature into a fruit, consisting of stigma, style and ovary), corolla and calyx.

I cut open a bellflower (I'm guessing that's the name) in half to reveal the complicated tubes and stems. After reading this site, I realized that this flower has a superior ovary. The ovary carries ovules, which are the fertilized seeds in the pistil. This flower also had male and female parts, as flowers often do: the stamen, which produces pollen; and the pistil, which catches pollen to fertilize seeds.

77: At night, find a streetlight or backyard light and watch for insects who flutter into it. These insects are trying to navigate by the light as if it were a star. However, as they fly, trying to keep the light at a certain angle as must be done to fly in a straight line, they begin passing by the light. They turn to compensate, then have to turn again, and before long they are circling the light and crashing into it...

I've kept a light on in my room at night, and watched the bugs attracted to it. They seem content with flying around it in many circles before eventually disappearing. After researching why bugs continue to bump into lights after surely having done it many times before, I've gotten some answers. Moths are nocturnal insects well-known for being attracted to lights in an otherwise dark location. Some scientists claim they view light as a safer location, as their source of light is the moon, and flying upwards is advantageous in an attack. Others claim that they use the moon for navigation at nighttime, as it never disappears, until daytime begins. When they do see light, they "become disoriented as they never expected to reach the moon, or fly above it".

90: Most insects are either "chewers" or "suckers." Wander around looking at miscellaneous insects, deciding which are chewers and which are suckers.

This website deals with different bugs, the mouths they have, and whether or not they use it for sucking or chewing. Butterflies are considered "suckers". They use their proboscis to suck up nectar from flowers. Mosquitoes have similar means of getting their nutrients. They begin their feeding process by sticking their proboscis in, not a flower, but their live victim's skin. They continue by sucking up their blood. Humans feel irritation after being bitten by a mosquito, because the saliva of the parasite causes an allergic reaction in our bodies.

94: Understand your local weather by looking at clouds, seeing weather maps, etc.

It rains quite often in KL, usually every day, but mostly not for such a long time. You can often tell when it is about to rain because of the dark, heavy clouds in the sky. The humidity in the air might also be a bit more uncomfortable than usual, as the water vapor in the air has reached its breaking point. The weather reports often include forecasts of thunder/lightning storms, or party cloudy skies. The temperature is usually in the 30's in Celsius, upper 80's in Fahrenheit.

95: If you had to personally kill the animals providing the flesh you eat each day, would you do it? Is it moral for you to simply pay others to kill the animals you eat? Think about these questions.

I don't usually eat a lot of meat, but when I do, I don't ask myself these questions very often. There are some animals I think I'd be willing to kill myself, and others I would never even dream of killing. If I was stranded on an island with not enough fruit in the trees or vegetables in the ground, I may be willing to catch a fish. Anything bigger or bloodier than that, I don't think I would be able to stomach. When I am safe at home with plenty of food to eat, fishing might be something I'd do for myself, but never any other animal. I don't think it is very moral for me to have others kill the animals I eat, and this has created some doubts about my diet and the meat I put in my mouth. If I can't kill the animals myself, do I deserve to gain energy from the lives they had lived before?