While I was reading Seth Godin’s blog today, catching up on a few posts I missed, I couldn’t help notice this small post called Autarky is dead. The thing that was so striking to me was that the central point of Seth’s post hinged on the difference in meaning wrought by a single space, which is all that separates “apart” from “a part.” That in turn underscores a point made many years ago by John Donne, (quoted here in the original 1624 language and spelling).
“No man is an iland, intire of it selfe; every man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine; if a clod bee washed away by the Sea, Europe is the lesse, as well as if a Promontorie were, as well as if a Mannor of thy friends or of thine owne were; any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee….”
