"An Ordinary Man"

I finished reading this book, "An Ordinary Man" written by Paul Rusesabagina last night. It left me with a lot of things whirring through my mind. Disgust and hope, shock and determination, despair and survival were just words as Rusesabagina said and I saw what he meant by that. Words can be nothing and everything. Words can be weapons and safety. He used words to save more than a thousand Rwanda victims in his hotel (in which he inspired the movie "Hotel Rwanda" which is mostly true as event occured.) He described how words can cause massacres (on radios and newspapers in Rwanda) and how words can help save people. He said it very well,

"All of these comes down to a failure of words. And this is what I want to tell you: Words are the most affective weapons of death in man's arsenal. But they can also be powerful tools of life. They may be the only ones."

He tried to describe that he wasn't the only hero. Many other folks tried to save people in the madness during the 100 days. April 6 to July 4, 1994, 800,000 folks were killed. 8000 lives a day. More than 5 lives every minute. Imagine that. Yet a priest fought to keep his children (2000) alive in the church and he managed. A man kept two dozen folks hidden in his farm, covering them with dirt and growing plants. There were more than just Paul, yet his story was the most noticed because the location was well known to the diplomats, politicans, UN staff and it was next to the airport. He tried to explain why people tried to save people, not because of money (He didn't accept any money to protect them, figuring they'd NEED that money for themselves trying to get out of the country.) This paragraph says it precisely.

"This is why I say that the individual's most potent weapon is a stubborn belief in the triumph of common decency. It is a simple belief, but it is not at all naive. It is, in fact, the shrewdest attitude possible. It is the best way to sabotage evil."

I highly recommend that you read it. The movie and the book are similiar but that the movie gave more details than the book. But they both can touch you and leave you with a feeling that even in face of evil, hope survives.