First They Came…
Friday, July 17th, 2009Exactly a year ago today, I shared the below Poem with a bunch of friends in an Email discussion. At that time, we felt some kind of anger over some injustice that we saw. But nothing could compare to the injustice that we saw yesterday. My deepest condolences to the family of Teo Beng Hock. I really really wonder what happened…
My fiance and I are dedicating our 29th month anniversary to TBH and fiancee, we cancelled our dinner and movie date to attend vigil.
I had a discussion with some colleagues over lunch on the state and recent political issues. I can see that there’s still a lot of ignorance and “don’t care” attitude in many people. Thus the below poem kept popping into my head since lunch. Here’s sharing it again…
Original
Als die Nazis die Kommunisten holten,
habe ich geschwiegen;
ich war ja kein Kommunist.
Als sie die Sozialdemokraten einsperrten,
habe ich geschwiegen;
ich war ja kein Sozialdemokrat.
Als sie die Gewerkschafter holten,
habe ich nicht protestiert;
ich war ja kein Gewerkschafter.
Als sie die Juden holten,
habe ich geschwiegen;
ich war ja kein Jude.
Als sie mich holten,
gab es keinen mehr, der protestieren konnte.
Translation
When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
Then they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
I did not protest;
I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
I did not speak out;
I was not a Jew.
When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out for me.
Let’s cry and shout for justice now, or forever remain silent…
