An Illustration in Human Cruelty
"We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appaling silence of the good people."
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
I was watching a movie the other day called Hotel Rwanda. I found myself crying at the end of it. It had a bittersweet happy ending. The family was brought back together and they escaped and were safe for the rest of their lives. No one fell in or out of love. It was almost like a Rwandan Schindler's List.
In 1994; 80,000 human beings were killed. Although their ethnicity makes no matter in light of the sheer numbers, it is vital to know that those killed were made up of mainly Tutsis and moderate Hutus. They were massacred over the span of 100 days by two Hutu extremist groups, the Interhamwe and the Impuzamugambi. The world looked on as the news covered the guiltless blood bath.
The most sickening part of all of this.....no one did anything. Intelligence provided information that it might happen before the killing started. The UN refused to authorize a peacekeeping operation in Rwanda. The UN soldiers were not even allowed to discharge their weapons in defense of the people being slaughted. The President of the United States (Clinton) was given a daily report on the death toll. Millions sat and watched it on the news, seeing how terrible it was and then turned off the television and forgot about it.
King was right. Those that commit acts of violence and hate upon others condemn themselves through action. Those that choose to merely sit and watch condemn themselves through inaction. Which is the greater crime? To commit a hateful act of violence, or to allow it to be committed. They are both equally evil. Through inaction, we allow others to harm humanity. It is as evil as the act of inflicting pain itself. What then are we to do? Go on through our lives, ignorant, blinding ourselves to the truth....that suffering is a spreading epidemic that is consuming the globe. I admit to knowing nothing, to complete ignorance, and to the crime of inaction up to this point in my life. Now is the time for a change in each of us. Let us not condemn ourselves to the fate that has doomed so many generations up to this point. There will always be suffering, and there will always be those that choose not to confront it. Let us pray that there will be those who will rise to meet it, and that we are them.
In 1994; 80,000 human beings were killed. Although their ethnicity makes no matter in light of the sheer numbers, it is vital to know that those killed were made up of mainly Tutsis and moderate Hutus. They were massacred over the span of 100 days by two Hutu extremist groups, the Interhamwe and the Impuzamugambi. The world looked on as the news covered the guiltless blood bath.
The most sickening part of all of this.....no one did anything. Intelligence provided information that it might happen before the killing started. The UN refused to authorize a peacekeeping operation in Rwanda. The UN soldiers were not even allowed to discharge their weapons in defense of the people being slaughted. The President of the United States (Clinton) was given a daily report on the death toll. Millions sat and watched it on the news, seeing how terrible it was and then turned off the television and forgot about it.
King was right. Those that commit acts of violence and hate upon others condemn themselves through action. Those that choose to merely sit and watch condemn themselves through inaction. Which is the greater crime? To commit a hateful act of violence, or to allow it to be committed. They are both equally evil. Through inaction, we allow others to harm humanity. It is as evil as the act of inflicting pain itself. What then are we to do? Go on through our lives, ignorant, blinding ourselves to the truth....that suffering is a spreading epidemic that is consuming the globe. I admit to knowing nothing, to complete ignorance, and to the crime of inaction up to this point in my life. Now is the time for a change in each of us. Let us not condemn ourselves to the fate that has doomed so many generations up to this point. There will always be suffering, and there will always be those that choose not to confront it. Let us pray that there will be those who will rise to meet it, and that we are them.
posted by Nanashi Lunam Tenshi at 5:46 PM
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