The Great Flood of Louisiana 2016 is your flood, and it is my flood.

South Louisiana’s flood is our tragedy. We are hurt by it. The disaster in south Louisiana is our hardship to claim. We cannot look away. In the ways we are able, we must help.

Almost four hundred years ago, John Donne, an English poet, priest, and lawyer spoke these words:

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.

In the year 1624, John Donne wrote, “No man is an island.”

In our time, as the Great Flood of 2016 sinks the fortunes of our fellow residents in what we call “down south” here in Louisiana, we are saddened. Whatever the floodwaters wash away is a part of our state, our nation, and our humanity. We, too, are diminished by the flood waters.

We are called by that which makes us human to extend help. “No man is an island.”

http://www.famousliteraryworks.com/donne_for_whom_the_bell_tolls.htm