The Humanist: It tolls for me

John Donne's immortal lines have to be quoted first.

... No man is an island, entire of itself;
every man is a piece of the
continent, a part of the main.
...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...

The words were written in the seventeenth century, and I'm willing to let John Donne get away for the very obvious gender bias. But the words ring true.

I'm a humanist. Every time the bell tolls to mark the death of one member of humanity, I know it tolls for me. Every child that gets beaten or bullied, every woman that is harassed; every man who is trod upon. The bells tolls incessantly. And it tolls for me.

I'm not a messiah. I do not claim to be. I do not wish to be. I'm a humanist who cares what happens to the world and its inhabitants. And I'm going to fight for the right of humanity to survive... for the right of every member of humanity to survive... (are these goals inherently inconsistent? The next post should answer that)