Could You Forgive Your Next Door Neighbor if He Was a Killer?

Rebecca Hauser/February 21, 2008/1:15 pm/human rights

Forgiving the Neighbor Next Door

In 1994, Rwanda experienced a mass genocide that forever changed the society. Within 100 days 800,000 people were killed. The Rwandan Government ordered that all ethnic Tutsis were to be exterminated by the country's Hutu population. All Hutus were ordered to kill any Tutsi they could, by any means necessary. A story is portrayed in this article describing the relationship between two men who have been neighbors for many years. During the genocide, one of them killed seven members of the other family. Now, the Rwandan Government began a reconciliation program. After 10 years of incarcerating 120,000 people convicted of genocide murders, the government decided to focus on reconciliation and rehabilitation. In 2003 President Paul Kagame issued a decree that if people admitted to all of their crimes and asked for forgiveness from their victims, they would either be freed or have their sentences halved. The punishment for convicted usually involves direct ties to making the victims lives better and improving the entire community. There is now a policy in place making both victims and perpetrators live side by side. There are actually neighborhoods set up for this.

While this seems to work for some people, others are not as open to the idea. Some feel that it is astounding that people are getting away with murder with a simple apology and asking for forgiveness. The government thinks that people need some help getting on the path to forgiving and their policy is helping this happen. There have been some positive changes that have occurred in the country: Rwanda’s economy has experienced unprecedented growth in the last few years.

While I am overjoyed to hear that this country’s economy is on the rise, I am having a hard time swallowing the fact that so many murderers are now released back into society. While I am rather ignorant of this particular genocide occurrence, however, I have always been enthralled to learn about the Holocaust. I could never imagine the Nazi’s being forgiven and told, “Its ok, we know you didn’t really mean it.” Never in a million years could I imagine this happening. On the other hand, I commend this country and the people who live there for being so forgiving. I feel that if they are able to do this, put the past behind them and live beside the same people who killed their families, then “more power to them.” For me, this would be a feat that I am not sure I could overcome and submit to.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/Story?id=4322104&page=1