Global Justice

    Currently I am taking a Global Justice course. This weeks assignment revolved around the genocide in Rwanda in 1994 when the Hutu were slaughtering the Tutsi. Our assigned readings were two books: Machete Season (view point of the killers) and Left To Tell (view point of a survival). I read Left to Tell first, which I think the order really did matter. When I first began reading, I thought that the only way Justice was going to be served was by imprisoning all that partook in the heinous crime. But as I continued reading I realized that the best Justice is forgiveness, which at times is difficult. When we open ourselves to forgiveness we are able to move on, and not live in the past. Which was one of the reasons why the genocide occurred in the first place. As I read the last page, my perception had changed and I longer felt anger towards the killers.
    I really think that by reading Left to Tell first, I wasn't as emotional with Machete Season. So I wasn't as critical on the killers responses as much as I  would have been if I wouldn't have embraced forgiveness first. What they did was not right, but its important to try and understand why many were motivated and influenced. For some of them, being in prison was better than being free. Which really surprised me, but after they explained their reasons it made sense. Overall, these two books shared a lot of insight about genocides and applying morals into our lives. I would recommend them both.