I used to believe everything I write is true, but now I know there are many truths and mine only bears witness.
"Truth. What is truth?" is Pontius Pilates rhetoric in response to Jesus who had just told Pilate who He is and what He came to do: "You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." John 18:37-38
That afternoon's phenomena would have clarified Pontius' resolve if he was eager to know what truth is. If not then, surely some three days later (resurrection), and forty days (ascension) or fifty days (Pentecost) after that. Needless to say, sometimes you don't know what Jesus would have done in any given situation and until you like Pontius have said or done something, and all you're left with is the aftermath, you consider yourself fortunate if you're left with some hope, or lead. Writing down our stories and lessons doesn't mean we'll always remember how it is we got here, but it sure makes it difficult for us to callously forget.
I wrote something about deception and tribulation in light of the Rwandan genocide the first time I was there in 2016. When I reread what I wrote I struggled to find a thread and thought it better to edit the piece. While editing I struggled to remember the point I was trying to make then or whether there was a clear point, so I thought it best to rewrite it. Same title and context, different perspective and content. I figured you can only write as well you've lived, and read. It's not so much what you write that determines whether or not the writing is true or not, but why and how you lived, and who and what you read.
In Rwanda's case, when it comes to investigating the cause of the genocide there is little to suggest this atrocity wasn't in fact staged. To begin with, the difference between Hutu and Tutsi appears somewhat indefinite:
"But neither historians nor anthropologists can agree on the origins of the divisions that were so crucial to Rwanda's terrible history. Some anthropologists contest the idea that Hutu and Tutsi are distinct groups. Others maintain that the Tutsi came to Rwanda from elsewhere, originating in the Horn of Africa and migrating south where they gradually achieved dominance over the other two groups, the majority Hutu and the small number of Twa.
"There was also a marked physical difference between Hutu and Tutsi; the former were generally shorter and stockier; the Tutsi were tall and willowy with angular noses.
"In the Kinyarwanda language, common to all Rwandan people, the word Hutu meant subject or servant and the word Tutsi rich in cattle.
"More recent studies tell us that the word Tutsi was first used to describe the ruling elite and the word Hutu used to convey contempt for inferiors, both Tutsi and Hutu.
"Others insist that the race idea was conceived in Europe, that the idea that Tutsi and Hutu were different races came with the European colonizers.
"The divisions in society were enforced. In 1933 the Belgian administration organized a census. Teams of Belgian bureaucrats arbitrarily classified the whole population as Hutu, Tutsi or Twa, giving everyone an identity card with an ethnic grouping clearly marked. Every Rwandan was counted and measured: the height, the length of their noses, the shape of their eyes. For many Rwandans, though, it was not always possible to determine ethnicity on the basis of physical appearance: Rwandans in the south were generally of mixed origin and were classified as Hutu although many of them looked like Tutsi. In the north mixed marriages were rare. Some people were given a Tutsi identity card because they had more money or more cows. The divisions in society became more pronounced with the Hutu discriminated against in all walks of life."
[Linda Melvern, Conspiracy to murder]
In the years preceding the infamous genocide, genocides related to Hutu and Tutsi were commonplace within and outside of Rwanda. For instance, in 1972 an estimated 200,000 Hutu were systematically slaughtered by Tutsi in Burundi. In this and other such massacres, to keep outsiders from intervening, intel was manipulated for the rest of the world to believe conflict between Hutu and Tutsi was losing steam. When certain political activists sought channels through which to voice the truth about Hutu and Tutsi, strategic killings of certain activists coincided. All streams conveying opposing or negative news concerning the then current state of affairs in Rwanda, were swiftly barricaded, while military coups and rebel groups were operational and growing. And then, when the 1994 genocide broke out with the speed and fluency which it had, the rest of the world one might say, in disbelief, looked the other way.
Eventually the world came to its senses and got involved Ever since Rwanda has not only recovered but excelled, becoming a beacon of hope for Africa. What's more, for the past twenty-three years in the week surrounding April 7th, Rwandans set aside time to remember. "Slowly, desolately, the fist of what we'd done unclenched the clawed palm of what we'd become. Anger softened into sorrow, as it always does, as it always must. And no drop of what we'd wanted, just an hour's life before, was as rich in hope and meaning as a single teardrop's fall." [G.D. Roberts, Shantaram]
All the world's a stage, and whether it was Rwanda's fault or not; there is no reconciliation without repentance. This is the theme of the story that is Rwanda. No clearer did this theme illuminate than when we prayed for our Rwandan friends who hosted us for the five days we were there. As we began to thank God for them, bearing arms or taking hands they kneeled as one, and I couldn't help but be moved. Because sometimes the question isn't what brings you to your knees, but what makes you believe you're ok to keep standing. That, my friends, is the longest drop.
"They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." 1 Peter 2:8-10
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