Hi my name is Jordan and I will be leading a discussion on An Ordinary Man by Paul Rusesabagina. Rusesabagina's heroic actions saved almost 1300 Rwandan's from execution during the 1994 "civil war." I love reading books like this, especially from ordinary people forced to do the extraordinary. This hit close to come as my parents were refugees within their own nation. They experienced and witnessed nearly the same events and circumstances as Rusesabagina, simply because they were of a certain heritage.
2 comments:
Jordan,
I have started to listen to this book on CD while driving to visit college friends in Iowa. The narrator's voice (Dominic Hoffman) has a wonderful accent and makes you feel as if the author is reading you his story. Rusesabagina tells his readers that power is in words and actions. By standing up for what is right a single person can do incredible things. His father and mother taught him to be a hard worker and to respect family and tradition. He risked great danger to save the lives of over 1000 people, but to him these risks were the only thing he could do. To do less was unthinkable...so for 100 days this brave man did whatever it took to keep the machetes out of his hotel.
Kathie
As he said, he saw the long term hope for his country and knew this bloodshed would not continue. It's amazing to think he accomplished the feat of saving lives against the ever changing emotions of these killers. The fact that he had to even preserve life is heartbreaking, as if life is some flimsy device that can be disposed of. At one point in the book, I love how he recognizes each person as a distinct individual. As a brother, a mother all having great stories, great lives that were abruptly ended. Once one knows the details of a situation, they inevitably become involved. If only the world could form a relationship with other cultures and groups of people. Perhaps these differences that make people vague and unknown could patch a lot of ignorance and prevent situations like this.
Jordan
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