Day 40.

http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2011-04-13/article/37670?headline=Eclectic-Rant-Kagame-s-Rwanda-Myth-and-Reality

Today was interesting. I read an article on how the Rwandan genocide was essentially a myth. The word myth was actually used to describe it. I understand what the author was saying, but I still think the gist of the article is a load of trash. I did a lot of reading yesterday for one of my classes today, but the class was canceled so I am going to tell you about it instead. The reading was on the Rwandan genocide, what happened, why it happened, what the world's various responses were, who the key players were, what bystanders should have done instead, how the UN did and didn't act, and all that jazz. In all of this reading, there was a story of a few people that worked for the U.S. government that were in Rwanda. I think they worked at an embassy. The person whose dialogue I was reading were excited about getting all the Americans out of Rwanda when the violence broke out.  There mindset towards the thousands of Rwandans they were leaving behind to be slaughtered was, "I am only one person. I can't do anything to stop this." While reading it I could understand how that individual could feel that way, but as I read further I discovered the story of basically the UN general in charge of the UN troops in Rwanda. He was given no help, no support, and when he asked for 5,000 troops to stop the genocide, he was left in the end with only 250. However, 530 soldiers actually stayed behind, refusing to leave the people they were protecting from the perpetrators in a large hotel and a large stadium. And then I think of the hotel manager who allowed Tutsis to hide in the hotel, who called the U.S. government asking for help, asking them to tell the perpetrators not to kill them, and saved those people because of making a little noise and doing the most one person could do. It saved lives. After reading about all that, I really want to ask that person who left Rwanda saying I can't do anything about it how they feel being a bystander that allowed people to be slaughtered when they could have done something, saved one person. That american could have even been murdered and their death could have sparked a response from the international community. I think that person should watch "Schindler's List".