I originally posted this on MySpace. Since no one pays attention to MySpace anymore, I’m reposting here.
This morning I read a news story about a Rwandan woman who, like so many Rwandan women, witnessed unspeakable acts of violence and lost her own husband and sons to the hands of Hutu extremists . They were literally hacked to pieces before her eyes by a man they once called “neighbor” and “friend.” The story of the Rwandan genocide is politically complex, but it is on a personal level that I most relate to the tragedy: as woman, a wife, a mother.
But in 1994, when the Rwandan genocide was in full swing, I was not yet a woman, a wife or a mother. I was an American High School student, my only job to Be Taught, to Learn. And I don’t remember hearing much about Rwanda in school. Do you? Quite honestly, I had to Wiki it to refresh my memory. I knew it had something to do with Africans killing Africans, but I didn’t know much more than that. This bothers me.
It bothers me a whole lot. Why, when I was a high school student with a sponge-mind absorbing every last drop of whatever it was immersed in, was Rwanda just a bullet-point to be skimmed over? With such an epic moral and political and human rights drama being played out on the world stage right in front of us, why didn’t my Poli-Sci teachers – my Bible teachers for Christ’s sake – say “PUT DOWN YOUR TEXTBOOKS AND LOOK AT RWANDA!”
Admittedly, in 1994 I was more concerned with watching 90210 than World News Tonight, so I might have just missed the whole Rwanda thing in favor of the “Donna Martin Graduates” episode. Sigh. This speaks to the fact that mine is an American generation that has been cushioned and culturally spoon fed from the very beginning. If you’re reading this on my MySpace blog and you got the whole Donna Martin reference you’re most likely of the same generation. How is it that we know more about Donna Martin than Rwanda?
Fast forward 14 years. Donna Martin finally graduated. Rwanda is finally rebuilding. And 90210 is back. But there is a new cast of high school students. I can’t wait to see what happens.
