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Green Candidate: Earth Hour on Parliament Hill
« on: 2008-10-05 12:19:45 » |
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[Fritz]Not the usual stuff of politicians ....
Source: Green Party Website
Author: Jeanie Warnock - Green Candidate
Date: Sunday, March 30, 2008
Ask Not for Whom the Bell Tolls: Earth Hour on Parliament Hill
What a moment! To hear the great bells of the Peace Tower toll eight o'clock, and then watch as the lights on the Hill went out. Suddenly, the Parliament Buildings stood dark against the evening sky, and the Centennial Flame in front of us burnt with a bright clear radiance. We saw the stars as they were meant to be seen, sharp cold points of light above the nation's capital.
I have to admit, as a bit of a cynic, I was less than overwhelmed by the idea of assembling outside Parliament Hill to commemorate Earth Hour. It seemed somewhat stagy, contrived, cheesy even, not to mention a pretty minor gesture…what was one hour, after all, in a whole year?
But we couldn’t have chosen a better place. As eight o’clock approached, we stood in the cold, lighting our candles, laughing and cursing as they were extinguished in the wind. Someone gave Frank de Jong, the GPO party leader and the guest of honor, a candle in a glass lantern. The Parliament Buildings were a silhouette, cut sharp against the evening sky; the Centennial Flame leaped and blazed in the gusting wind; the GPO flag, stuck in a six foot high snow bank, billowed beside us.
Then the carillon bells tolled to mark the hour, a deep solemn sound that brought us all to attention. Silent, we watched as the lights on the Hill went out, and the towers of the Parliament Building were suddenly scored dark against the northern sky.
It was more than a gesture of energy-saving, it was a moment of mourning for the species that have passed forever into oblivion and for those poised on the brink of the precipice. It was a moment of reflection, for thinking about the way we lead our lives and resolving to change. It was a moment to honor the dead and dying and to consider how our individual actions, which seem so small and insignificant, can have a tremendous impact on the world around us.
And each time the bells tolled, marking the quarter hours, they tolled for each of us, calling us to reflection and action.
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John Donne, (1623), XVII: Nunc Lento Sonitu Dicunt, Morieris - "Now, this bell tolling softly for another, says to me: Thou must die."
PERCHANCE he for whom this bell tolls may be so ill, as that he knows not it tolls for him; and perchance I may think myself so much better than I am, as that they who are about me, and see my state, may have caused it to toll for me, and I know not that….
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.
Complete Text: http://incompetech.com/authors/donne/bell.html
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