Global Issues

Share this quote of John Donne’s for students to read carefully and discuss:

“ 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 if a manor of thy friend’s 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.”

from Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions, 1624

Go over each line, clarifying vocabulary and identifying the author’s point of view. (“No man is an island…” Donne suggests that no man can exist by himself. He states that we are all interconnected, and someone else’s loss is a loss of our own. Someone else’s death is a death of our own. Each time the bell rings, mankind loses. “…never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.” It is a reminder of our own mortality and the interconnection of life.)

Discuss whether most people in the United States and world would agree or disagree with John Donne’s quotation. Ask for examples from everyday life or from history where people act with recognition of the fact that we are interconnected. (The aftermath of September 11, 2001, the war in Iraq, and the quarantine of COVID-19 are filled with examples.)

This is acting for the common good.

Introduce the Sustainable Development Goals, which are 17 goals established by the United Nations with a goal to address the major issues in the world through global efforts over 15 years. This page for youth gives a nice overview of how young people are engaged with the SDGs [https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/youth/]. Discuss how this is an effort focused on our interconnectedness and the common good.

Tell the students that nonprofit organizations and foundations are formed with a mission to address issues identified here. Define a nonprofit as “an organization that provides a benefit for the common good or a group of persons in society. Its money is not to be used for the benefit or private gain of its stockholders, directors, or any other persons with an interest in the company.” Examples include museums, environmental organizations, labor unions, foundations, not-for-profit hospitals and health clinics, private colleges and universities, relief organizations, and churches. Sample nonprofit organizations include St. Jude Children’s Hospital, American Red Cross, Girl Scouts of the U.S.A., W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Ohio State University, Chicago Art Institute, Planned Parenthood, Catholic Relief Services, and the Audubon Society.