For Whom The Bells Tolled

Yesterday I attended a Roe V. Wade Memorial Rally in downtown Portland, Oregon.

The rally started with the tolling of bells. 50 of them. One for each MILLION babies that have been killed in the womb.

I was reminded of a phrase I heard first in high school - and have heard many times since: "Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee."

To be honest, I couldn't remember where it was from, or what the context was, but I somehow knew that it (pardon the pun) rang true with where I was and what I was there to support.

The line comes from a poem by John Donne written in 1624. The same poem contains another famous line: "No man is an island." Here is the complete work.

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 manner of thine own
Or of thine friend's were.
Each man's death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, ask not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.

This poem is so unbelievably appropriate. These unborn who have no voice - murdered before they even had a fighting chance - are part of us. Their death is our death. Their loss is our loss. The pro-choice people will tell you that each man IS an island. They can make their own decision because they affect no one but themselves.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

When those bells tolled, they not only tolled for the 50 million lost... but they tolled for each and every human being who has come before us, is here now, or will ever be.

Every life is sacred! EVERY life!