First They Came. . .

Yesterday, California's Propostion 8 was struck down by a federal district judge. When this proposition went to the voters, the situation reminded me too much of a poem by Pastor Martin Niemoller I'd read years ago.

There are several versions running around, and honestly it doesn't matter which one is the "correct" one. There's a certain inherent truth in all versions--that we must watch out for our brothers and sisters. In doing so, we protect our own rights.

This version is the one I read as a child:

"In Germany they first came for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me —
and by that time no one was left to speak up."