"For Future Generations" by Bertolt Brecht

We live in a dark time.

When to speak without anger is only to 

     reveal that you're a fool.

When a forehead without wrinkles

Is testament to your heartlessness.  When

     he who laughs

Has simply not yet heard

The terrible news.

What sort of time is this, when

To speak of the trees seems a crime,

Since it means you're keeping silent about

    violence?

He who steps calmly down the street

Must be deaf to the sufferings and sorrows

Of his friends.

We can still earn enough to live on,

But believe us:  That's an accident.  Nothing

We do gives us the right 

To eat our fill.

We've survived by accident.

(If they notice our success, we're finished.)

They say to us: "Eat and drink! Be glad at

    least you're not hungry!"

But how can we eat and drink if

We're taking food away from the starving, if

The glass of water we drink is what a 

     thirsty man needs?

And yet we eat and drink.

We'd like to be wise men.

The ancient books tell us what wisdom is.

It means to put aside the battles of the world

     and live one's life

Knowing no fear.

To abjure violence.

To answer evil with kindness.

Not to get one's wishes, but to forget them.

This is considered wisdom.

And we're incapable of it.

We live in a dark time.