Tonight I went to my second-ever book signing. The first, I waited in line for at least two hours on Grand Avenue to get into the now closed, Table of Contents, to shake hands with Hilary Rodham Clinton when she was touring for her book, "It Takes a Village." No talk, no live signing, a handshake in a receiving line, still I was thrilled. This was pre-Monica of course.
At Barnes and Noble at the Galleria I listened from the O aisle in fiction to Paul Rusesabagina, the man who inspired the film Hotel Rwanda. He is a sweet-faced gentleman, polite, somewhat formal. His smile is almost beatific which makes it hard to imagine he witnessed the murders of hundreds of Tutsis. In one hundred days, eight hundred thousand Rwandans were slaughtered. Eight thousand men, women and children, mostly hacked to death by machetes, were killed each day. It's unimaginable.
In his talk he said he was not an hero, just an ordinary man, which is the title of his book. He credits the hotel, The Mille Collines, with saving the 1,268 people hidden inside. In the book's introduction he writes, "The best you can say is that my hotel saved about four hours worth of people. Take fours hours away from 100 days and you have an idea of just how little I was able to accomplish against the grand design."
How could genocide be a part of "the grand design?" These things can't possibly be part of God's plan can they? If Jesus wept over the death of his friend Lazarus, surely he is lost in grief over the brutal deaths of so many. Mr. Rusesabagina believes he wasn't killed simply because it wasn't his hour. Could it have been the hour for three hundred Rwandans each hour for one hundred days?
Bill Clinton was the President in 1994 and didn't send help to Rwanda. I find it ironic that the only other book signing I have been to was to meet his wife, whose book preached the moral responsibility of caring for the children in our communities. I am ashamed that we turned our backs on the children of Rwanda.
"It's and honor to meet you," I said as the author signed my books, one for me and one for my son. He looked up warmly, "and a pleasure to meet you ma'am."
At Barnes and Noble at the Galleria I listened from the O aisle in fiction to Paul Rusesabagina, the man who inspired the film Hotel Rwanda. He is a sweet-faced gentleman, polite, somewhat formal. His smile is almost beatific which makes it hard to imagine he witnessed the murders of hundreds of Tutsis. In one hundred days, eight hundred thousand Rwandans were slaughtered. Eight thousand men, women and children, mostly hacked to death by machetes, were killed each day. It's unimaginable.
In his talk he said he was not an hero, just an ordinary man, which is the title of his book. He credits the hotel, The Mille Collines, with saving the 1,268 people hidden inside. In the book's introduction he writes, "The best you can say is that my hotel saved about four hours worth of people. Take fours hours away from 100 days and you have an idea of just how little I was able to accomplish against the grand design."
How could genocide be a part of "the grand design?" These things can't possibly be part of God's plan can they? If Jesus wept over the death of his friend Lazarus, surely he is lost in grief over the brutal deaths of so many. Mr. Rusesabagina believes he wasn't killed simply because it wasn't his hour. Could it have been the hour for three hundred Rwandans each hour for one hundred days?
Bill Clinton was the President in 1994 and didn't send help to Rwanda. I find it ironic that the only other book signing I have been to was to meet his wife, whose book preached the moral responsibility of caring for the children in our communities. I am ashamed that we turned our backs on the children of Rwanda.
"It's and honor to meet you," I said as the author signed my books, one for me and one for my son. He looked up warmly, "and a pleasure to meet you ma'am."
Comments
Post a Comment