14 Years Ago...

The Rwandan atrocity - the 100 days of genocide - began, making hitherto and forevermore April 6th a date of infamy, remembered for all the wrong reasons. On par with September 11th - which it actually dwarfs in comparison in the sheer brutality of the tragedy as well as in the total number of casualties; the Rwandan Genocide is evidence enough that man is not just "intrinsically good". Man can commit the most abominable atrocities as well...

It is not just how many lives were lost back then either - it is of course about the unspeakable acts, all the actions that made it a genocide, the most heinous of all campaigns any group of men can ever undertake, that set what happened in Rwanda apart from 9/11 and any other recent tragedy that came with a considerable death toll.

A genocide is as bad as it can get; when brother kills brother for any ill-conceived concept of "cleansing" a piece of land - a huge piece of dirt.

This atrocity spawned a book, authored by one who was there and saw it all happen first hand, quite powerless to do anything about it. He titled his book "J'ai Serré La Main Du Diable" - hinting at the fact that unspeakable evil surely comes from the devil and the devil is, in fact, one of us... Surely, many human souls can only grow horns and a tail upon "crossing over", yes... General Romeo Dallaire is thus convinced he shook hands with one such soul on the unforgivable road to hell; and one couldn't agree more with the general.

It is said that he thought himself BACK in that hell, upon seeing, on a big screen, the film made of his book, starring Roy Dupuis (the same thespian -they call them comedians where he comes from- who played the late, great, maniacal Maurice Richard -on ice, he sure had that maniacal glare in his eyes- but that may not be implying anything at all...)

May everyone else only experience such a hell in that way only - via a movie retelling true shocking events, and not while actually living similar ones as they happen... again.

And may all the victims - all the souls who left this realm of existence amidst violence and chaos during the course of those one hundred days of HORROR... May they all, somehow, REST IN PEACE.

By God's Grace - they can.

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