Sometimes I come across a piece of writing, on the web or in print, that helps to clarify some idea or association that’s been trying to connect in my brain for a while. This article did just that.
Daily Kos :: A Promise to My Grandfather: A Follow Up
How is it that those of us who have proclaimed ourselves agnostic or atheist can end up being more tolerant than those who proclaim themselves “moral people”? If we don’t speak out for the gays, or the minorities, or the Constitution, if we don’t fight oppression and intolerance in our society… who will? Never again should there be another Holocaust, or another round of McCarthyism, or any number of historical atrocities I could mention. No more.
First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.—Pastor Martin Niem?ller