“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent.” The Nobel Prize-winning 
author, Ernest Hemingway, borrowed this quote from the 16th century English metaphysical poet, John 
Donne, as the preface to his great novel “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” which takes place during the 
Spanish Civil War of the 1930s.

There is discussion currently taking place throughout our country, including locally, about individual 
rights in the context of the larger community. When I first read this book back in high school I gave a lot
 of thought to these few words that Hemingway chose to begin his world-renowned novel.

As a Native American, the insight for me is that while individual rights are important, it is the larger 
sense of community and relationships that are paramount to my overall well-being, socially, physically, 
spiritually and, yes, even economically.

In extremely trying times, I believe we must sometimes set aside our self-interests and cooperate
 together for the common and greater good of everyone. One clear example of this was during World 
War II: Millions of men and women set aside their personal goals of careers, education, starting a family, 
and so on. The entire country bonded together to defeat external threats to our very existence as a 
nation of people.

Now we are facing this pandemic threat, which has already killed more than 175,000 of our fellow
 Americans. I do not believe it is asking too much of any of us to take some simple steps of precaution, 
such as wearing a face mask, maintaining social distancing, and washing our hands. I fail to see how our 
personal “rights” are being threatened by these steps. Our free speech rights, voting rights, right to
 protest, etc., are not being infringed upon.

Bob Shippentower

Pendleton