hotel rwanda afterthoughts - a time for heroes

Just watched Hotel Rwanda last night - a docu-film about hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina's attempt to rescue 1800 refugees during the 1994 Rwanda genocide

the world needs more movies like this. Some stories must be told, told again and again and then retold again. Because we, in our pathetic self-centredness, have terrible, short attention spans. We forget what we should remember. I can sympathise with the Jewish fixation on the Holocaust - the call to "Never Forget". The conscience of the world is only kept alive by those who do not allow themselves to be blind, deaf and dumb. The authorities of this world - the UN, the leaders of nation states, the cultural elite, the intellectuals - cannot always be counted upon.

Joaquin Phoenix's journalist character puts it bluntly in the movie when asked by Paul, "How can anyone watch (the massacre) and not do anything?" - "People will say Oh That's Horrible! And go on eating their dinners." We who have been blessed undeservedly with times of comfort and peace, we who are rich in all things - can we be blamed for wanting to enjoy the luxury that has been accorded?

The answer cannot be to turn to a self-flagellating existence. We who live in the developed nations of the world should thank God everyday for the card that has been dealt us and THINK, really THINK about what the position of privilege means. If we let ourselves slip and forget that the world is larger than ourselves, we are complicit in the perpetuation of pain and suffering in the world. Sin makes the world go round....and round...and round in a spiral towards Judgment Day. Those who have much have a responsibility, and a calling to serve those who have little. Nothing else makes sense.

I am complicit. I have my part in the iniquities of this world. My hands are unclean and my heart is one that remains divided, part flesh and part stone. Only Christ in me gives me the hope that I will be able to face my God with something less than shame.

And I am ashamed when I am confronted with the big atrocities of Rwanda, Kosovo, Sarajevo....I am prone to bliossful ignorance even to the smaller atrocities in my own comfortable Singaporean society. Even scarier to confront: if I cannot even care for someone sitting next to me in church, will I be found wanting when the stakes for caring become higher? WIll I find myself as heroic as Rusesabagina?

My works are filthy rags - no merit do I bring.

When Rusesabagina tells the refugees to call up any of their overseas friends for help. he urges them with striking words, "we must shame them. You must make them see if they forget you, if they let your hand go, you will die." A million Rwandese died - and it is a shameful thing that today, the average Singaporean may not be able to tell you there was a Rwanda genocide or that it was as recent as 10 years ago. As it is, many barely remember there was something called the Holocaust. A typical student answer, "Because it was not in my textbook. Because my teacher said don't need to study it. It was not tested." An adult might answer,"Because I got bigger things to worry about. There are things closer to home to worry about."

A time has come for all of us to be heroes unto each other. We have been living in the End times for as long as we remember, how fitting if we make our last stand something worthy of praise. The time for heroes has always been Now. If we have not Love, we are nothing.

If our lives were made into movies, when the lights come up, will we find ourselves moved? will it be a movie we are willing to watch? Or would our movies be one sick, bland reminder of the countless crap movies that churn out of the Hollywood machine - all sound and fury, mildly amusing, possibly entertaining, ultimately not worth remembering?

We do not all need to become missionaries or political activists for Rwanda. But we can start by caring for the needs of the people next to us...and perhaps allow ourselves to dream big enough to help bigger and bigger groups of people, bigger and bigger causes. We can simply start to take an interest in what is happening in our backyard, around the world and make ourselves care.

Stake your life on something more than owning the latest toy. Fight for something more than the latest promotion. Make meaning. Show Love. Tell the Truth. Do not be ashamed to do good and stand up for something nobler. And never forget that the fight is always about the person next to you and the God who made you both. Everything else is a chasing of the wind.

to check out! Interview with Director of Hotel Rwanda and Paul Rusesabagina himself