“Forgive the Unforgivable”
The third part of Immaculée Ilibagiza’s Left to Tell focuses on her unlikely escape into safety and her legacy of forgiveness.
The number of undeniable miracles that lead Immaculée into security is beyond amazing. Wayne Dyer promised this book to be life changing. He did not overpromise, he did not underdeliver.
“Rwanda can be a paradise again, but it will take the love of the entire world to heal my homeland. And that’s as it should be. For what happened in Rwanda happened to us all. Humanity was wounded by the genocide. The love of a single heart can make a world of difference. I believe that we can heal Rwanda and our world, by healing one heart at a time. I hope my story helps.
Fitting as her name means “brightness” as she has sparked a light in me. Love, so simple yet so brilliant. As horrific the content of this book, it also warmed my heart.
Immaculée witnessed arguably the worst crimes of humankind yet lives with her heart at peace. She saw, heard, even smelled things we don’t even want to think about, yet she lived it. Not only is it a miracle that she survived the genocide physically, but mentally as well. Others had gone insane from witnessing the holocaust.
It took Immaculée two years of distance from Rwanda to heal her heart enough to come face to face with her family’s killer. After seeing her family and speaking with her brother in a dream, she knows what she must do. She is brought to the man who murdered her mother and brother, who looted her house, robbed their farm, and then hunted for her so he could take over their property. Looking at him though she can feel only pity and simply says, “I forgive you.”
Something I thought about a lot during this book is that my biggest fear is not being a victim of such horror, but of being the perpetrator. We all like to think that we would remain good-hearted people in all situations, but war can do crazy things to people. What if we were being fed murderous propaganda, what if we were fearing for our lives, what could we be capable of? The devil will ruin your life if given the opportunity and I definitely believe the devil was hard at work during this time. In the aftermath though Immaculée describes how the Hutus actually hurt themselves more than anything. She reminds us that if we cannot forgive history will continue to repeat itself.
I want to take this book and read it again and again to let it feed my soul. I’m not saying all my questions have been answered and I will never waiver again, but something clicked inside me while reading this book. Immaculée Ilibagiza was not left to tell, she was left to inspire.
In case you missed Part 2 of my review you can find it here.