I Won't Be Tutsi Anymore
I finally rented "Hotel Rwanda" last night. I was really glad I had read quite a bit about it before I watched the movie. I think I remember reading about this particular incident in "We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families: Stories of Rwanda" but the scene that really knocked me for a loop was when the Red Cross volunteer told the story of the little girl who was about to be murdered hollering out "I promise I won't be Tutsi anymore". That just really hit my heart very hard. I just can't imagine hearing that in real life instead of a movie. I hope by the grace of God that the parents did NOT have to hear those cries for help.
Can you think of a situation that might even come close to putting you in that kind of hellish nightmare? I can't. I suppose I should feel blessed, but that is not my response right now. I am angry. And I got a lot of questions that can't be answered except by Him. Yes, I still have the "I believe in YOU" kind of faith, but it doesn't keep the anger from showing up, and the questions from being asked.
800,000 lives in 100 days. All because of "tribe".
"I promise I won't be Tutsi anymore".
4 Comments:
Brings tears to my eyes just remembering that scene. It's been months since I've seen the movie and it still haunts me. Seems its virtually impossible to watch the movie and not blog about it, huh? Such a tragedy...
Just a thought in hindsite. Suppose that the Body of Christ was more concerned with the lost than millions of dollars for buildings. Suppose that wealth had been redirected to recruitment and sending missionaries. Could it be that many of these kind of horrors could have been avoided if the Body of Christ had been concerned about the lost and not their comfort?
What horror waits in the wings because of our misplaced priorities.
That may sound a bit simplictic, but I can't help but believe there is an element of truth in there somewhere.
I haven't seen the movie, but I heard quite a bit about it as it happened, and I have seen enough to be world weary. These "longing for home, longing for heaven" moments help me reframe my life and readjust my planner. And, Jill, I respect your viewpoint and do not wish to upset you in the least, but this old warrior Scot sees a call to intervene in Iraq AND Rwanda AND in domestic violence in my own community AND... well, you get the point. Let us spend ourselves in service everywhere in every situation and let God sort out what we will eat or where we will live.
Members of the community I once belonged to run a Catholic seminary in Kenya. During the Rwandan horror, they (along with most such houses in the safety of Nairobi) took in a number of seminarians who had fled the conflict. Ironically, eventually they were housing Hutsi and Tutsi seminarians. The tension was great -- who knew who had been responsible for killing family members? Yet the grace of God began to work and fellowship was renewed, at least among that small group of men.
Think of the millions who died in the last century, mentally crying out, "I won't be ___ anymore": Tutsi, Jewish, Palestinian, Irish Catholic or Irish Protestant, Gypsy, gay, communist, black...
My Catholic tradition keeps a feast for the children of Behtlehem murdered by Herod, the Feast of the Holy Innocents, just a few days after Christmas. The ranks of the innocent continue to swell. They may indeed be -- as we all hope and pray -- with God in a far better place. But I can't help thinking this was not the way God had intended to welcome them home.
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