I have struggled for months to remember a poem that reflects man's inability to learn from the past. My mind has bounced back and forth over words penned by a man that describes a descent from "knowing" what was right to the reality of what was clearly wrong.
Our country, our society is at risk, dire risk. It's not just the wholesale, open season on the lives of young black men. It's the abandonment of our basic tenets and principles by people who hold the high offices along with our tacit and quiet acceptance of their vile and consistent trespass.
Must we sacrifice all dignity and passable humanity before we acknowledge that we are in a war, a senseless and selfish war that can never yield personal safety or unfettered dreams. We wage a war against ourselves here on American soil. A war of division and separate ideologies based on conservative versus liberal progressive politics, or fundamentalist Christians versus every other religion, white versus black, corporate executives versus service personnel, cops/prosecutors/judges versus all citizens. We are not fighting elusive foreign terrorists we are fighting our fellow Americans. We are fighting our differences, something that has a various times in the past made us stronger, not perfect, but a united front in the face of oppression. The starkly drawn lines of division between American citizens has never been greater. Hatred and distrust is our typical daily discourse. This day in crazy has morphed into simply this day. Our media is alive with half-truths and lies. And yet we remain silent and fearful of "almost, but the diverted terrorists attacks" while we unquestioningly swill down the mountains of hatred spewed against the perceived "others" among us.
So, it's well past the time that these words be spoken and heard yet again. We have lost our way, our moorings have cracked and our collective futures swing in the balance. Can we not face together and act together to squash the evil that hunts and shreds our collective dream of freedom and peace?If we cannot recognize our shared humanity, then I am certain that our futures will be a reality that is truly frightening to even perceive.
A man who learned from personal experience:
Martin Niemoller
Twenty-five years later Niemöller indicated that this was the version he preferred, in a 1971 interview.
When the Nazis came for the communists,
I did not speak out;
As I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I did not speak out;
I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
As I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews,
I did not speak out;
As I was not a Jew.
When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.