“There was a huge puzzle after the genocide.  How do you pursue justice when the crime is so great?  You can’t lose one million people in one hundred days without an equal number of perpetrators.  But we also can’t imprison an entire nation.  So forgiveness was the only path forward. Survivors were asked to forgive and forget.  The death penalty was abolished.  We focused our justice on the organizers of the genocide.  Hundreds of thousands of perpetrators were rehabilitated and released back into their communities.  These decisions were agonizing.  I constantly questioned myself.  But each time I decided that Rwanda’s future was more important than justice.  It was a huge burden to place on the survivors.  And perhaps the burden was too great.  One day during a memorial service, I was approached by a survivor.  He was very emotional. ‘Why are you asking us to forgive?’ he asked me.  ‘Haven’t we suffered enough?  We weren’t the cause of this problem.  Why must we provide the solution?’  These were very challenging questions.  So I paused for a long time.  Then I told him: ‘I’m very sorry.  You are correct.  I am asking too much of you.  But I don’t know what to ask the perpetrators.  ‘Sorry’ won’t bring back any lives.  Only forgiveness can heal this nation.  The burden rests with the survivors because they are the only ones with something to give.’” (Kigali, Rwanda)

“A few years ago I worked as an apprentice in a cosmetics shop.  I was supposed to receive a payment at the end of my term.  But I was warned by the other employees that the owner would find a reason not to pay me.  He’d always invent reasons to fire his boys right before their payment.  So I made the decision to quit.  But when I told him, he dragged me to the police.  He told them lies about me.  He told them I’d stolen so much money.  And they tortured me.  They tied my hands and legs and they hung me from the ceiling.  They beat me.  I went deaf from all the slaps.  For ten days I was given no food.  My fellow prisoners would share little bits of their meals when they were finished.  But some days I saw nothing.  Honestly I was about to die.  And I started to pray to God.  And on the tenth day, the guards decided that it would cause too much trouble to let me die.  They told my employer: ‘After what we did to him, he must be innocent.  Because he’d have confessed if he was guilty.’  They released me into the world like a madman.  And I’ve carried the memory ever since.  I promised myself that if I ever found someone in a similar situation, I would help.  So when I learned that prisoners pass down this road, I chose to hawk in this location.  I waited until I finally saw the truck, and I pushed all my food through the bars.  My fellow vendors couldn’t believe it.  They asked me who would pay me for the food.  I told them: ‘I didn’t do it for any man.  I did it because of what God did for me.’”  (Lagos, Nigeria)

(Sydney, Australia)

Sarah Miles

— Michael Gungor

So, I mean, you tell me.

“Several years ago my father used our house for collateral on a business loan. When things fell apart, we lost everything. My dad got depressed and fell sick. My mother was backed into a corner. She had four young children but no income. At the time she was a very feminine housewife. But she asked our neighbors to teach her how to farm. Then she convinced our landlord to let her plant an empty field. He told her, ‘If you can make it yield anything, we’ll split the profits.’ It didn’t succeed right away. There were a lot of pests. Some of the crops dried out. But my mother harvested whatever was left, and it was enough to support our family. She cut off her hair during this time. She got very muscular. She worked all day in the fields but still found time to make sure we went to school. If my brothers and I ever started crying, she’d tell us: ‘If I’m strong enough to do this, you’re strong enough to go to school.’” (Jakarta, Indonesia)

Beyoncé’s Lemonade: A Lesson on Appreciating Art That Wasn’t Made for You | Consequence of Sound (via luxuriousvulgarity)

C.S. Lewis (via yesdarlingido)

I Quoted MLK, Now I Feel Better (via jspark3000)

It works too! tried it myself

J.S. Park (via jspark3000)

Brené Brown, Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone (via yesdarlingido)

(via jadesofjesus)