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Showing posts from August, 2014

Distinctions

Having asked a question about memorialization to a class not that long ago, I continue to ponder the distinctions. For example, what is the distinction between "lest we forget" and "make them remember".  I'm thinking of the annual memorial services in Rwanda every April, where in some cases,  Hutu are asked to stand next to the Tutsi who forgave them and recall and reiterate their deeds.  The story I tell myself is that two harms are occurring here - the one who forgave gains some sort of false sense of nobility while the one who is forgiven gains another real dose of shame. Forgiveness is something I think about a lot.  And I've said this before - there is a distinction between my deigning to forgive because it benefits me, as if taking the high road renders me better than.  But that was and is never what forgiveness was meant to be.  I still can't help thinking that forgiveness is intended to release the offender from shame, return them their digni