I am grateful that it’s Friday. In my last class of the day, a student asked if teachers were as happy to get to Friday as students, and my honest answer was “Yes.” But then we both agreed that some weekends there was so much work to do that there wasn’t much to celebrate.
Not today. Although I do have some work planned (nothing new about that), I’m also looking forward to fellowship and inspiration tonight as my church sponsors a screening of the documentary As We Forgive:
Could you forgive a person who murdered your family? This is the question faced by the subjects of As We Forgive, a documentary about Rosaria and Chantal—two Rwandan women coming face-to-face with the men who slaughtered their families during the 1994 genocide. The subjects of As We Forgive speak for a nation still wracked by the grief of a genocide that killed one in eight Rwandans in 1994. Overwhelmed by an enormous backlog of court cases, the government has returned over 50,000 genocide perpetrators back to the very communities they helped to destroy. Without the hope of full justice, Rwanda has turned to a new solution: Reconciliation.
But can it be done? Can survivors truly forgive the killers who destroyed their families? Can the government expect this from its people? And can the church, which failed at moral leadership during the genocide, fit into the process of reconciliation today? (synopsis from film website)
Since my cousin’s family has been living and working in Rwanda for several years, I’ve become interested in this country and its struggles.
What you’re asking is “can,” I would add “should.” I don’t wish to sound overly-harsh, but I made friends with two Ukrainians who survived the Nazi invasion in June 1941. They told me of their experiences – horrible. The population of Ukraine was a little more than 40 million in June of ‘41 – it was a little less than 29 million in April ‘45. If you care to do the math that’s 11 million in 1500+ days of war or 7000+ killed for EVERY DAY. Some of the most horrible events in human history occured there. Babi Yar might be the worst. 33,771 human beings were stripped naked in groups of 20 and machined gunned in a 36 hour period. They were “buried” by dynamiting soil over the ravine that bears the name. Many of the genecide’s participants felt they were doing nothing wrong. Should someone like that be forgiven? Revenge is mine sayeth the Lord. And that maybe true. As for me there are some things I choose not to forgive.
http://www.sandysays1.wordpress.com