"We pay to shed a sombre tear in the darkness together here
One among the hundreds, crying for the millions
And when the house lights break the trance
Only then unclasp our hands
Compose ourselves and fix our hair
"We would have all been Schindler there""
This is describing people watching the movie "Shindler's List" at a theatre, "one among the hundreds, crying for the million, house lights break the trance" and how in retrospect/thinking of their own actions in the same situation, people always assume the best of themselves "we would have all been Shindler there", when in reality, only a tiny amount of people have the courage to do something like that.
"And can you see in twenty years
We'll pay to shed the same cheap tears"
In the future we will be reading/watching about the East Timor massacre just like movies of the holocaust.
"Watching the movie we'll ask how the people might have known
Let it happen there without a fight"
i think this is another reference to the holocaust and how locals could hear screams and smell the burning of flesh from the gas chambers/crematoriums and did nothing, and now we ask "how could they not have known/turned their backs?" on what was happening and in 20-50 years Australians will be watching the movie of the East Timor attrocities and think "how could they (meaning YOU and ME) not have known and just turned the other cheek.
"We pay to shed a somber tear" isn't about a candlelight vigil, it's about paying to go and see a movie about attrocities, and then at the end of the movie, composing yourself, going home and then forgetting about it.
"A two minute hate is now a 3 hour love" to me means that the horror of the past, in the scope of history really didn't last for long, but now it has been glorified and enhanced and is now a widely talked about "blockbuster" movie.
"We pay to shed a sombre tear in the darkness together here One among the hundreds, crying for the millions And when the house lights break the trance Only then unclasp our hands Compose ourselves and fix our hair "We would have all been Schindler there""
This is describing people watching the movie "Shindler's List" at a theatre, "one among the hundreds, crying for the million, house lights break the trance" and how in retrospect/thinking of their own actions in the same situation, people always assume the best of themselves "we would have all been Shindler there", when in reality, only a tiny amount of people have the courage to do something like that.
"And can you see in twenty years We'll pay to shed the same cheap tears" In the future we will be reading/watching about the East Timor massacre just like movies of the holocaust.
"Watching the movie we'll ask how the people might have known Let it happen there without a fight" i think this is another reference to the holocaust and how locals could hear screams and smell the burning of flesh from the gas chambers/crematoriums and did nothing, and now we ask "how could they not have known/turned their backs?" on what was happening and in 20-50 years Australians will be watching the movie of the East Timor attrocities and think "how could they (meaning YOU and ME) not have known and just turned the other cheek.
"We pay to shed a somber tear" isn't about a candlelight vigil, it's about paying to go and see a movie about attrocities, and then at the end of the movie, composing yourself, going home and then forgetting about it.
"A two minute hate is now a 3 hour love" to me means that the horror of the past, in the scope of history really didn't last for long, but now it has been glorified and enhanced and is now a widely talked about "blockbuster" movie.
yeah eebee is right. history repeats itself.
yeah eebee is right. history repeats itself.