John Bolton vs. John Donne on the Value of Human Life

This is the Face of American Diplomacy. No, not Condi Rice. She may be the Secretary of State, but the official who truly deserves that title, the man whose mug most clearly defines American diplomacy to the rest of the world, is this man:

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) – US Ambassador John Bolton said there was no moral equivalence between the civilian casualties from the Israeli raids in Lebanon and those killed in
Israel from “malicious terrorist acts”.

Asked to comment on the deaths in an Israeli air strike of eight Canadian citizens in southern Lebanon Sunday, he said: “it is a matter of great concern to us …that these civilian deaths are occurring. It’s a tragedy.”

“I think it would be a mistake to ascribe moral equivalence to civilians who die as the direct result of malicious terrorist acts,” he added, while defending as “self-defense” Israel’s military action, which has had “the tragic and unfortunate consequence of civilian deaths”.

For a dissenting opinion, let me offer you these words from a Dead White Poet:

“All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated…As therefore the bell that rings to a sermon, calls not upon the preacher only, but upon the congregation to come: so this bell calls us all: but how much more me, who am brought so near the door by this sickness….No man is an island, entire of itself…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, from his Meditation XVII

(Cont. below)
I’m certain that Ambassador (and that title sticks in my craw) Bolton is a very learned man, so perhaps he’s heard of Mr. Donne. Perhaps he has even had the chance to study the very words I have quoted to you in his youth. After all, it is one of the most famous quotes from English literature. If so, sadly he did not profit from that experience. So, let me try to help him out with understanding the thinking of a man undoubtedly more intelligent and erudite than either Mr. Bolton or myself.

Donne was one of the 16th Century England’s metaphysical poets, but that was only one of his achievements. Over the course of his lifetime, Donne was a military adventurer, lawyer, famous (some would say infamous) lover to the young woman in his charge who would become his future wife, and priest of the Church of England, famous for his piety and his sermons.

The excerpt of his work I’ve quoted above is from a series of religious meditations to be read and pondered by believers, entitled Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions. These meditations were written in 1623, after Donne’s recovery from a life threatening illness (possibly typhus). Meditation XVII specifically causes us to reflect on the interconnection between all human souls. It’s two main themes are reflected in the two principle images Donne employs as metaphors for the lesson he means for us to reflect upon.

The Bell, ringing at the Church to call the faithful to services, represents humanity’s knowledge that each of us must face the question of our own mortality. Donne uses it to remind his readers that no one can know that when the bell will call for him or her; no one can know when death will come calling for us. This is to remind us that we should act at all times as if we might be called into the presence of God at anytime to make account of our life here on earth.

The second image that Donne employs is the Island. The island connotes isolation. Islands, and those who live on them, are cut off from the mainland by the vastness of the waters that surrounds them. Yet, Donne employs this image in the negative sense. “No man is an island …” he tells us. No part of humanity should be beneath our consideration, nor should anyone be treated as separate and apart from all others. We are all of the same body, the same spirit and the same creation. This is why he goes on to say that “… any man’s death [and presumably woman’s] diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind …”

Donne is telling Mr. Bolton and I, and you too, that we cannot quantify the tragedy of our mortality. Each death should matter to us as if it were our own, or the death of those we love. He would disagree most vehemently with the statement that there is no moral equivalence between the deaths of Israelis and the deaths of Lebanese merely on the basis of who caused those deaths. All the deaths are tragic, and all of them diminish our common humanity.

Mr. Bolton says there is no moral equivalence because he welcomes the result of Israel’s violence. He celebrates Israeli bombs and missiles and bullets. He pretends to care about the collateral damage to civilians, but wants to make clear that those deaths are not important, not like the deaths of the Israelis whose sacrifice is somehow sanctified because it was done at the hands of terrorists. When he says such things the rest of the world, and especially the Muslim world, is aware of this meaning: that the Lebanese civilians are merely islands, and we need not shed many tears if they are washed away in the tsunami of righteous Israeli vengeance.

Bolton never learned the lesson that we are, all of us, in the words of Donne, “… involved in mankind.” What we (i.e., the American Government) should be doing is not promoting the moral rectitude of one of the combatants who is slaughtering other humans, but finding the means to bring a halt to the violence in its entirety. All of these deaths diminish me, Mr. Bolton, just as they diminish the lives of every American. We should not waste our time or our efforts defending the right of Israel to kill Lebanese civilians, but rather we should focus all our energies on stopping the slaughter.

That is the lesson you should have learned from John Donne, Mr. Bolton: All human lives are equivalent. Certainly that is one of the core values I would have our Government promote in its relations with the rest of the world.



















Author: Steven D

Father of 2 children. Faithful Husband. Loves my country, but not the GOP.