Forgiving the Hutus

After reading “We Wish to Inform You”, I found myself completely horrified at what the Hutus had done to the Tutsis. Not only were these people from the same country, but they were their neighbors, their co-workers, their fellow students, and in some cases, their friends and family. I couldn’t even imagine the amount of hurt the Tutsis would have felt not only from their losses but from the betrayal that they became victims of. How exactly can the Tutsis forgive and forget? It seems that forgetting would not even be an option. These happenings are probably so engraved in the Tutsis' minds that they cannot forget what happened. What about forgiving though? I wonder how it would even be possible to forgive anyone for such actions. Some Tutsis of Rwanda, however, are doing just that.
Romain Kabahizi, a survivor, said, “As long as I live it will be impossible to forget. I can forgive, but I can't forget. I can forgive because that's the way to heal myself, to get over the anger, but even if I forgive it doesn't mean I want to see them walking the streets free as they are doing now.”
It is absolutely unimaginable for me to think that after suffering so much pain of loss and tragedy, these survivors still live among those who had caused their strife. This is where, I believe, the Rwandans realized that if they weren’t the ones to end the anger then who would? If they didn’t stop to forgive these people then wouldn’t the struggle within the country continue? Survivors are trying their best to end this battle by simply forgiving, and perhaps this is a lesson we should take from the happenings in Rwanda: retaliation will solve nothing, but forgiveness can produce a very valuable concept -- peace.

"The most important thing everyone asks for is peace – even if you have only a little to eat, to be able to eat it in peace. Even though I’m old, I ask for peace and I have it now. I am sad, but I have peace." -Tharcisse Mukama



http://rwandansurvivors.blogspot.com/