Reconciliation

Reconciliation

George W. Bush,
I’d never seen anything like it.
Posturing himself as the simple guy.
The east coast elite, Yale grad.
I thought that was as bad as it would get.
Projections limited by personal perspective.

Today, my conservative friends tell me,
“Now you know how we felt when Obama was president!”
Wow…

Anyway, while I was driving to work a while ago,
I was listening to the news and heard about fighting in Tripoli, the Libyan capital. Rival militias were fighting.
That’s what stopped me.
Rival militias?
Think about that…

I understand the general idea. I’ve heard militias referenced over the years and understand the second amendment and our right to a well regulated militia…
But, in all my life, I’ve never known a militia member.
Have you?
They almost seem folkloric… to me.

I’ve always assumed there are militias.
I figured they were prepared.
Maybe some more than others.

This is a tidbit from the Southern Poverty Law Center:

“The number of Patriot groups, including armed militias, skyrocketed following the election of President Obama in 2008 – rising 813 percent, from 149 groups in 2008 to an all-time high of 1,360 in 2012. The number fell to 1,096 in 2013.”

Wow, wow, wow!
We’ve got militias!
MOUNTAINS of them!
I had no idea!

Ok… the point is, the possibility for us to further devolve into a state of utter chaos is… I don’t know…
Plausible, maybe even likely?

So, getting back to the idea that I never thought it could get this bad, the point is, it can get much worse.
Much worse.

Immaculee llibagiza, a Tutsis, was a survivor of the Rwandan genocide. There were roughly 800,000 to 1,000,000 Rwandans killed in roughly 100 days.
Most of the killing was done with clubs and machetes!
That’s wildly beyond my comprehension!
As many as 10,000 people beaten and chopped to death, per day,
Every day,
For 100 straight days!
This was done face to face, with bodies piled high, while awash in pleas of wild desperation.
Shameless slaughter…
The most efficient, industrialized slaughter houses in the United States today can only kill 5,000 to 6,000 cattle per day.

To survive, Immaculee was hidden in a 3 foot x 4 foot bathroom with 7 other Tutsis women for 91 days. It was a Hutus priest who hid them, pulling a wardrobe in front of a bathroom to conceal the door. The bathroom was so small, only one or two of the women could sit at any given time. The priest was only able to scavenge food for them from the garbage can. Their survival demanded such silence, they were unable to flush the toilet.
Process that…
7 women in a 3’x4’ bathroom for 91 days.
She was 65 pounds when she came out of hiding.
She lost much of her hair and had open lesions on her body.

Her family members were killed by people she knew,
Her neighbors and community members.
When the killing stopped and the Tutsis regained power, she was asked to condemn and judge the Hutus.
She was expected to curse and spit on them.
Defying expectations, she did the unconceivable.
She chose forgiveness.
The Tutsis were unable to forgive the Hutus,
Or her.
She was spurned,
The pariah.
Imagine the pressure and temptation,
To conform, to hate.
Imagine her fate,
And loneliness?

The fabric of their community was being torn apart.
Their souls starving.

Consumed with rage and revenge.
Their anger was destroying them.

It was ten years later that Immaculee was asked to come home.
They wanted her to teach them to forgive.
She was the ambassador.
Radical forgiveness was the path.

Here in the United States, we have the privilege of saying this is, or was, the worst.
With little insight of what the worst is.

Partisanship has been the path of the past,
Persistently divisive.
This will get worse if we choose to let it.

Imagine forgiving the person who killed your father, your mother, and siblings.
Imagine forgiving the people who killed your cousins, clergy, and community members.
Imagine showing them compassion.
Imagine helping them.
Imagine loving them.

This is what is happening in Rwanda.
It’s called the forgiveness project.
If the people of Rwanda can find forgiveness,
We can find forgiveness!

We, me,
We’re the only ones,
Who will,
Who can.

Forgiveness is not synonymous with apathy.
Forgiveness allays us of the burden of hate and anger.
As we advocate for compassion and the expansion of our collective consciousness, our vision will be cleared.
Radical forgiveness is the path.

Evolve…