By Alec Pruchnicki
First, the virus came for the Chinese, but I did nothing because I wasn’t Chinese.
Then it came for the New Yorkers, but I did nothing because I wasn’t a New Yorker.
Then it came for the nursing home residents, but I did nothing because I wasn’t a nursing home resident.
Then it came for the minorities, but I did nothing because I wasn’t black or Hispanic.
Then it came for the prisoners, but I did nothing because I wasn’t a prisoner.
Then it came for the slaughter house workers but I did nothing because I wasn’t a slaughter house worker.
Then the scientists said it would last all year, but I did nothing because the President said it would be over by summer.
Then the doctors said to wear a mask, but I did nothing because the President never wore a mask.
Now I’m alone in the ER about to be intubated. My family isn’t here yet so I can’t say goodbye to them before they put me under. I’m a white Republican. How could this happen to me?
In 1946 German clergyman Marin Niemoller wrote the original version of this as a way of confessing his lack of action in face of the rise of the Nazis. This updated version is not to equate the death from WWII with this pandemic, at least not yet. It is to equate people’s ability to deny reality even when it stares them in the face. The voice of the writer is an imaginary person, not me, but it should still make the point. But reality has a way of returning and producing a lot of suffering, as we are now relearning.
