Monday 21 July 2014

GIVE PEACE A CHANCE AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN

Lot of stuff in cyberspace about our inhumanity, our callous cruel natures and our selfish self-absorbed political or social stance. Everyone claims they are right and their perceived opponents are wrong. It made me think of the following statements and I think they are worth everyone reflecting on:

From Pastor Martin Niemöller in the 1930's

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.

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 for me.

Also when Pastor Niemöller was put in a concentration camp we wrote the year 1937; when the concentration camp was opened we wrote the year 1933, and the people who were put in the camps then were Communists. Who cared about them? We knew it, it was printed in the newspapers.
Who raised their voice, maybe the Confessing Church? We thought: Communists, those opponents of religion, those enemies of Christians - "should I be my brother's keeper?"
Then they got rid of the sick, the so-called incurables. - I remember a conversation I had with a person who claimed to be a Christian. He said: Perhaps it's right, these incurably sick people just cost the state money, they are just a burden to themselves and to others. Isn't it best for all concerned if they are taken out of the middle [of society]? -- Only then did the church as such take note. Then we started talking, until our voices were again silenced in public. Can we say, we aren't guilty/responsible? The persecution of the Jews, the way we treated the occupied countries, or the things in Greece, in Poland, in Czechoslovakia or in Holland, that were written in the newspapers
I believe, we Confessing-Church-Christians have every reason to say: mea culpa, mea culpa! We can talk ourselves out of it with the excuse that it would have cost me my head if I had spoken out.

I don't think it is our duty to kill each other for the sake of ideology or land. We can either solve our problems together through continued peaceful efforts or we can lose our heads and descend into barbarism. It's every person's choice and whatever the circumstances you find yourself in if you lose hope and your compassion then we are all doomed.

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