There’s an old saying that when you see something wrong, say something.

In the housing society where I live, another society, whose secretary is from the ruling party, has misled the municipality and is taking water from the line supplying water to our buildings.

But, other than a few, most people are silent, pretending nothing is wrong.

How often we pretend not to see! We turn our heads, busy ourselves with more “important” things, and convince ourselves that it’s none of our business.

After all, why poke the beehive? Why risk a sting?

And yet, history reminds us time and again that silence in the face of injustice is as good as complicity. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, head of the allied forces during the second world war, no stranger to duty, understood this better than most.

When he entered the Nazi concentration camps in 1945, he did not simply shake his head in horror and move on. No! He made sure others saw what he saw. He invited members of Congress, journalists, and military officials, stating, “The evidence of bestiality and cruelty is so overpowering as to leave no doubt in their minds about the normal practices of the Germans in these camps.”

He documented everything, knowing full well that there would come a time when people would try to deny such horrors had ever occurred.

Today, injustice wears many disguises. It lurks in racism, sexism, corruption, and a hundred other injustices we witness every day.

A colleague bullied at work? We look away.

A neighbor mistreated? Not our concern.

A government policy that oppresses the weak? Let someone else deal with it. We tuck our hands in our pockets, lower our eyes, and tell ourselves, it’s not my fight.

But it is.

You see, Eisenhower wasn’t just documenting history. He was issuing a warning. As journalist Bob Greene put it, “Eisenhower wanted to bear witness, and in so doing send a message to every corner of the planet: Even in the most ghastly, unthinkable circumstances, compassionate and unblinking eyes must never turn away.”

That message is for you and me. It’s a reminder that there are times when turning away is not an option.

Of course, speaking out isn’t easy. It’s far simpler to stay silent, avoid confrontation, and carry on as if all is well. But history belongs to those who dared to challenge injustice, who risked their comfort to stand for what is right.

The great movements that changed the world—from civil rights to women’s suffrage—didn’t succeed because people looked the other way. They succeeded because someone, somewhere, refused to be silent.

So, the next time you see injustice, don’t just sigh and move along.

Be the witness.

Be the voice. And if you ever wonder whether speaking up makes a difference, remember Eisenhower standing in the ruins of a concentration camp, ensuring the world would never forget.

Because silence, my friend, is not an option...!

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