There are old men who are vile and there are young men who are vile. What people do to each other is ingrained in their mind and the society in which they are brought up. The question is how do we create a system of education that would evolve a humane society? Ideals are a Rupee a dozen, but ideas are hard to come by whether it is from the Stupid Young Persons or the “Stupid Old Persons..”

Your complain of the Old Men, brings to memory what my grandmother told my brother when he teased her about her age and called her a stupid old woman. She smiled and said in Tamil,”Kavolai Vila Kurththolai Sirutchchuutham.” That is, when the Dried Palm Leaves Fall, the Shoots Laughed.

Your commentary on Truth assumes as if it is absolute. Scientific methods never permits anything to be absolute. In fact the word Truth does not exist in science. Every scientific fact have conditions under which it may be true. A fact is an event of high probability. Not a truth engraved in stone by philosophers or prophets. So don’t blame science. Blame those who misinterpret and/or misuse science. Go bark up the young trees, the old ones will be falling down soon anyway.

First they banned the sale of meat,
and I didn’t speak up, because I was a vegetarian.
Then they banned the sale of alcohol,
and I didn’t speak up, because I was a teetotaler.
When they shut down movie theatres,
I didn’t speak up, because I had a DVD at home.
When they censored television,
I didn’t speak up, because I didn’t watch T.V.
When they imprisoned Tamils on suspicion of being terrorists,
I didn’t speak up, because I was a Burgher.
When they shooed away the beggers and bashed up the gays,
I didn’t speak up, because I was neither gay nor a begger.
When they put away the prostitutes,
I didn’t speak up, because I was a married men who stayed cloistered at home.
I didn’t raise my voice, I didn’t make a fuss.
It’s funny there was no one left to notice, when they came for me!

For his opposition to the Nazi’s state control of the churches, Niemöller was imprisoned in Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps from 1937 to 1945. He narrowly escaped execution and survived imprisonment.After his imprisonment, he expressed his deep regret about not having done enough to help the victims of the Nazis.

This is the original poem by Pastor Martin Niemöller.

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn’t a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.