“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.”


by Rev. Martin Niemoller, 1945

It was the perfect day. The skies were blue and there was a cool breeze. My friends and I were in Boston for a few days and we decided to walk through the Holocaust memorial. This was my second time through it and it impacted me just a deeply. I prefer to walk through it alone. This wasn’t our first activity we had been walking around a lot before making this stop. Our feelings about Boston were mixed. It is a beautiful city, but it seems like there is an underlying arrogance from some of the locals. Not only arrogance, but a bitterness. We felt out of place. It seemed as though you had to be a local to be part of what felt like was an elite group. Just before we arrived at the memorial we were walking around with our map trying to find it. As we were walking two women asked us what we were looking for. We told them we were looking for Fannuiel Hall. They said that we were very close and pointed us in the right direction. They also told us what areas of town to avoid after dark; they were a credible source because they worked for the D.A.’s office. It was one of the few congenial interactions we had while visiting Boston. I don’t think they had lived in Boston for their entire lives, but I would consider them locals if nothing other than to give them a boost for redemption. I hope that I can love people that I don’t know even if it is in a simple way. You never know when that person needs a gentle reminder to refresh their hope in humanity. This quote from Rev. Niemoller is a great reminder of what happens when we don’t take ever opportunity to help and love those around us. How do I get involved with things that don’t effect me directly? I must speak for those who don’t have a voice or aren’t given the platform they need. I want to plead the case of the forgotten.