"First 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 the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out for me."
- Pastor Martin Niemoller (1892–1984)
I saw this quote on the wall of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum when I went there seven (?) years ago. Of course this quote is applied to the Holocaust but I guess it applies to our everyday lives too in how we deal with people and situations.
I guess it's really normal for the traditional Chinese to not be 多管閒事 but I think there is a really fine line between that and standing up for others who might not at the current moment be able to speak for themselves. Because I am sure that we all want someone to help us and speak up for us when we can't for ourselves.
Eventually, someone has to do the dirty work and say something.
1 comment:
This is a story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody. There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did. Somebody got angry about this, because it was Everybody's job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done!
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