Rwanda

When people turn on their TVs and see this footage, they'll say, "Oh my God, that's horrible," and then they'll go back to eating their dinners.

After a brief discussion over the Rwandan genocide with my mom, I watched Hotel Rwanda for the second time late last night. It was 1:30 when I started the movie and about 3:30 when I finished. Being awake for more than 19 hours, I was physically exhausted but I couldn't fall asleep for the longest time. To know that the genocide happened in 1994, only 17 years from today, shocks me. I was born while this was happening hundreds of thousands miles away in a foreign country to helpless people. To this day, and certainly in the future, there are and will be uprisings and killings in countries far out of my knowledge.  In the movie, Europeans and Americans in Rwanda were led out in a coach bus while the Rwandans were forced to stay amidst the crisis. One American was shown with her dog in her hands behind the bus window. What differentiates her from the others? After all, she is human, as are all the others forced to stay.  Then there's me. Here I am, not only do I live in a house with four walls but a country where I feel protected in. To tell you the truth, I stopped following news on Japan and I am clueless on what's happening in Libya. This is the world I live in, sheltered from any present day crisis. I probably won't change my habits and later today, I will be playing tetris and looking at my friend's photo albums. But I am thankful. I am lucky and I am thankful.