Psyche, Science, and Society

Brecht on Iraqi mortality estimates

October 11th, 2006

When Evil-doing Comes Like Falling Rain

Bertolt Brecht

Like one who brings an important
letter to the counter after
office hours: the counter is already closed.

Like one who seeks to warn the
city of an impending flood,
but speaks another language. They do not understand him.

Like a beggar who knocks for the
fifth time at the door where he has four times been given
something: the fifth time he is hungry.

Like one whose blood flows from
a wound and who awaits
the doctor: his blood goes on flowing.

So do we come forward and report that evil has been done us.

The first time it was reported that our friends were being
butchered there was a cry of horror. Then a hundred
were butched. But when a thousand were butchered
and there was no end to the butchery, a blanket of
silence spread.

When evil-doing comes like falling rain, no body calls out
’stop!’

When crimes begin to pile up they become invisible. When
sufferings become unendurable the cries are no longer
heard. The cries, too, fall like rain in summer.

Entry Filed under: Culture, Iraq, Poetry, Social Issues, War and Peace