James Poy Wong 黃培正
"War is a contagion of ideas, and it has already disseminated to every corner of the world."
"Sower of War" - 1946
战争播种者
十个纳粹主要战犯，在努莲堡被绞毙。 他们的尸体之相片，也登在报纸上。 我们虽然不曾目睹他们走着最后的几十码之路程，踏上绞台，脚下一浮，颈子一紧立见阎王的景象，但是在我们的想像中，也有着一个相当清晰的幻画。 当他们行近死神的面前时，他们的心灵， 是如何震荡与破碎，故要失望地祷告着上帝呢!
他们虽然被绞死，他们的骨灰，虽然抛撒在不可知的空间，但我们不能以为战争的威胁已消除。 他们不是战争的播种者，只是战祸的收割人，最低限度不是播种者的全部。
人杀人的罪恶，是整个人类的。 绳索只套在几个人的颈子，所以我们审判战犯时，有点近于审判自己，在沉默之中，我们曾否想到这一点？
到底是谁播下人杀人的种子？ 是德国吗？ 是日本吗？ 是俄国吗？ 我们看得太远了，我们不必走得这么远去找寻祸根，它就在我们的身旁呀！
不久以前，这里的砵士茂公园，有某党人作竞选演讲，有人要封塞他们之口，有人要饱他们以老拳，有些还妙想天开，说最好的办法，是指使一班顽童，羞辱台上的女党人。 对于这些没有半点容忍之量的人，最适宜于极权的社会，最易于煽动人杀人，他们就是战争播种者。
战争是思想的传染症，已蔓延于地球的每一角，几乎每一个人，在某一个时期中，都犯了多少应受绞刑的罪。 而今日努莲堡的黑影，应给我们一种警惕和自省。
Sower of War
Ten major Nazi war criminals were hung at Nuremberg. The pictures of their corpses were printed in the newspapers. Although we didn’t witness the scene showing their walking of the last ten yards, stepping up to the platform, losing footing in thin air, and tightening their necks that led them to instantly see Yan Wang1, through our imagination, we could see such a picture quite vividly. When they were close to the god of death, how shaken and broken were their souls that they had to pray to God in disappointment?
Although they were hung and their ashes were scattered in unknown space, we can’t assume the threat of war is eliminated. They are not the sowers but the reapers of war; at the least they are not just the sowers. Humans killing humans is the deed of all humanity, while the rope only loops on a few necks. Therefore, when we put the war criminals on trial, it is similar to putting ourselves on trial. Have we thought of it in this way when we are in a quiet state of mind?
Who actually disseminated the seeds of humans killing humans? Was it Germany? Was it Japan? Was it Russia? We are looking too far away from the answer. We need not go that far to look for the root of calamity. It is just right next to us!
Not long ago here, there were members of a political party making campaign speeches in Portsmouth Square. Some people wanted to shut them up, some wanted to throw them punches, and some even thought of fancier ways and said the best way is to direct a bunch of young thugs to embarrass the female member on the platform. These people who have the least degree of tolerance are best fitted in an authoritarian society and best at inciting humans killing humans. They are indeed the sowers of war.
War is a contagion of ideas, and it has already disseminated to every corner of the world. Almost each of us, at a certain time, has committed a crime that is, to a certain extent, deserving of being hung. So today the dark shadow of Nuremberg should give us a warning for reflection.