A few weeks ago, I awoke in the middle of the night with a killer opening line for a short story about a man facing a firing squad. The idea so fascinated me that I got out of my nice comfy bed and fumbled in the dark bedroom to find a pen and paper, then wrote it out by the bathroom light. For days, the idea haunted me, followed me to work, to the gym, on my walks. But I was busy with other things and couldn\u2019t begin on it right away, so I let it simmer.<\/p>\n
Today I sat down to begin, but I have no idea whether firing squads are even still in use (they are) and, if so, what countries would use them. This is an essential detail, since it would determine my setting and cultural background for the story. As I perused the long lists of countries and their attitudes toward capital punishment, I remembered Freddy, and his story about how his family fled Tutsi genocide in Rwanda decades ago.<\/p>\n
So I called up some background on the Rwandan genocide.<\/p>\n
Oh. My. God.<\/p>\n
First, let me say I am mostly a pacifist. Violence horrifies me. I am also politically na\u00efve. I don\u2019t understand the drive behind political ambitions and the power-hungry mindset. I don\u2019t get why we can\u2019t all just take care of one another.<\/p>\n
I know. I told you \u2013 I\u2019m na\u00efve about that stuff.<\/p>\n
Still, what I read in a few minutes about the atrocities in Rwanda will probably give me nightmares. Scholars estimate over 800,000 dead in only 100 days, though some estimates place that number at around 1.2 million<\/em>.<\/p>\n 100 days. That\u2019s THOUSANDS of murders EVERY DAY. Most of them were Tutsis, though there were also Hutus, and Twa peoples (who lost as much as a third of their population). Though there were a handful of organizers, many people took part. Some say that if you were in Rwanda during that time, you were either a murderer, or you were murdered. People who refused to kill their neighbors were, themselves, killed. It boggles the mind\u2014at least it does my<\/em> mind.<\/p>\n How does it make any sort of logical sense to kill a whole tribe\/nation\/ethnic group of people? I\u2019ll never understand it. There has to be a better way to resolve our differences.<\/p>\n So here I am, this idea for a story about the victim of a firing squad riding my shoulders and whispering in my ear, and I\u2019m too sensitive to even read about a horrific genocide that took place in my own lifetime. I swear, I had to stop reading. It made me physically sick to my stomach. How the hell am I going to write something about a revolution, or a rebellion, or some sort of coup that leads to my protagonist standing before armed men with his hands behind his back, when I can\u2019t even read<\/em> about such a thing?<\/p>\n Of course, Rwanda was a much larger scale. Much. Larger. (Nearly a million bodies. 100 days.) That\u2019s beside the point.<\/p>\n How can I bring myself to write about a subject so upsetting? I don\u2019t know. But I\u2019m going to write that story. If you are a fellow writer, you may understand what I mean when I say my stories are (sometimes) my voice. They are my way of making a statement. My protagonist facing a firing squad might tell a story that points out the futility of war, or the shame in corruption\u2026 who knows? He\u2019s still whispering to me, but I\u2019m not sure yet what he\u2019s saying.<\/p>\n What I do know, without a doubt, is that I have yet to even know what this character looks like, and already he is teaching me. This is one of the things I love about writing\u2014my characters so frequently become my teachers. It goes beyond what I learn when researching a subject. Seeing the story world through the character\u2019s eyes is a way of walking in someone else\u2019s shoes. For me, it helps to breed compassion. Understanding. A different perspective, one I might not have otherwise.<\/p>\n I have yet to write a story that did not change me in some way.<\/p>\n For tonight, I think I am done reading about genocide. I\u2019ve surpassed my effective learning capacity, and lurched headlong into overwhelm. But that story, whether it\u2019s about Rwanda or some other scene of political unrest, will<\/em> see the light of day. I may not know the names of the dead\u2014they are so many!\u2014but maybe my story can in some small way speak for them.<\/p>\n May I live to see the day when compassion surpasses violence in all the many and varied nations of this beautiful world.<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A few weeks ago, I awoke in the middle of the night with a killer opening line for a short story about a man facing a firing squad. The idea so fascinated me that I got out of my nice comfy bed and fumbled in the dark bedroom to find a pen and paper, then…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog-posts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8n0kX-4B","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":794,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2018\/05\/14\/here-be-monsters\/","url_meta":{"origin":285,"position":0},"title":"Here Be Monsters","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"May 14, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I seem to be talking and thinking about monsters a lot these days. In part, that\u2019s because I joined Twitter. Rather, I should say I began using Twitter, since I created an account long ago, but never used it for anything other than following Duotrope posts. Now I\u2019m following N.K.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4949,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2024\/09\/23\/animal-farm\/","url_meta":{"origin":285,"position":1},"title":"Animal Farm","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"September 23, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"By George Orwell ABHISHEK Publications, \u00a92021 ASIN: B0DCNXJTDH Kindle Version, file size 29690 KB I'd never read this book before. It was not required reading when I was in school. 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