First they came...

I saw this poem on NDTV the other day, and really liked it.

"First they 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 Catholics, and I didn’t speak up, because I was a Protestant.

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

It is written by Martin Niemöller, who was a German pastor and theologian. It talks about the inactivity of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power and the purging of their chosen targets, group after group.
I think the poem is brilliantly put. I don't remember why exactly NDTV was showing this, but it had something to do with whats happening in India. If no one speaks up, slowly and steadily there will be no one left ! One community will take out the other. The second will take out the third. and it will go on and on till no one is left standing. When will those fueling this fire realize the futility of it all?? !!