The Hook

Okay it is seriously a long time since I've updated because I almost forgot how to log into this darn thing!

I hope everyone had a great Easter/Passover/long weekend (does that cover everyone?) because we did even though it included a trip to Reptilia which is darn expensive but we did get our fill of Iguanas, snakes, crocodiles, frogs and every lizard imaginable. We saw a snake bite a rat too. I tell you the good times never end. I even got to pet an Iguana and a Cayman. Woo. Good thing we had hand sanitizer before lunchtime.

Lets talk about the hook. Some of you might not know me that well but the thing is that when I get interested in something I tend to go whole hog. If I like an author I will read everything they have ever written. If I am interested in a period of history I will read everything and see all videos (DVD's lord I'm old) about them. Seriously if you want to discuss WW2 I'm your girl. I even took an in-depth two year course on it in University. Anything you want to know about Watergate? Don't get me started. I was obsessed for about a year. The Holocaust - has been a fascination forever. (Please rush out and read Corrie Ten-Boom if you can). 9-11, The Great Depression, Confederation, Henry VIII, The Inquisition, The Roman Empire, The Ancient Greeks (I did double major in Classics and Philosophy after all). These events had a hook that interested me and made me delve into them. All of this is just the tip of the iceberg that lead me to a realization this morning.

As I was driving to work I was listening to "The Current" on CBC radio. Anna Maria Tremonte was interviewing an ex- Toronto Star journalist who had become obsessed with a story. Apparently early in 1994 a British Journalist videotaped a killing of a Father and young daughter in Rwanda. There were a number of bodies or people dying around them and these two were kneeling with their hands held out in the praying posture. They knew they were next. The tape showed them being bludgeoned to death. Apparently this was shown world wide with little notice. In 2000 The Star reporter went back to this Tutsi town and found the family of the Father and his daughter whom was discovered to be called Justine. He met the mans wife and she requested to see the footage even though she was warned it would be disturbing. After seeing it she showed the reporter pictures of her husband and daughter in good times. The reporter was so touched that he has revisited this family numerous times.

The Rwandan genocide in 1994 saw the Hutu's kill 500,000 people in four months. The total death toll came to between 800,000 and a 1,000,000 which is about 20 percent of the Rwandan population. Apparently this genocide was fueled by propaganda which encouraged the killings and as part of the annihilation utilized sanctioned war rape. Over 500,000 Tutsi women, girls and babies were exposed to unspeakable sexual violence that often lead to death.

I read Romeo Dallaire's, "Shake Hands With The Devil" which outlined his experiences in Rwanda and his eventual post traumatic distress disorder. Here is the thing though. I can't go any further. I can't read or see anymore about this. Once I get "The Hook" I am usually in totally. In this case and with the issues in Sudan I can't go there. I feel like a coward. I don't want to know more. I don't want any more images in my head of the injustice and violence done to these people. It gives me an inkling of why the world has largely ignored the troubles in Africa. The horror that occurs right now as we sip our green tea and check our facebook pages is almost too much to comprehend.

I am at a loss. I remember thinking, "why didn't people stop the holocaust in WW2?" But here it is people. Genocide occurring today and yet I don't want to know more. What kind of person am I that I can't look at it? Why isn't my usual hook hooking me? It's too much. I can't face it and today I feel ashamed.