The Hollow Men

One of the most influential pieces of literature on my philosophy is T. S. Eliot’s “The Hollow Men.” I taught this in class the other day and hope that my students get it.

Even though I read (and explained) the poem three times in one day, the ending still gave me chills. (This is the way the world ends, not with a bang, but a whimper.)

Even after more than 80 years, the poem is just as true today as it was then. Al Gore was on Oprah talking about global warming. He said (and I paraphrase) that the thing that worried him most was that people wouldn’t take action. And I thought, hollow me.

Every day all of us have to make the decision to be men of action. We must decide if we are going to do something, or if we are going to be hollow men who do nothing at all.

I encourage you to look up the poem. I’ll warn you, it’s a bit dark, hard to follow, and at times depressing. But there’s hope for hollow me. As we come into the holiday season, take some action even if it’s as small as donating to the red Salvation Army bucket. I wrote my check today.

Michele