An Ordinary Man: An Autobiography

"You cannot understand the magnitude. Just try! Eight hundred thousand lives snuffed out in one hundred days. That's eight thousand lives a day. More than five lives per minute. [...] At the end, the best you can say is that my hotel saved about four hours worth of people. Take four hours away from one hundred days and you have an idea of just how little I was able to accomplish against the grand design." - p. xi

There are times when I read a book and it scares me. It honestly really scares me. If you've watched the movie Hotel Rwanda, you will know all about Paul Rusesabagina's story. You will know that during the 1994 Rwandan genocide, Rusesabagina kept the doors to the Mille Collins open to refugees, ultimately saving over 1,000 lives. As of late, the accuracy of his story has been questioned, but I think it's important to note that Rusesabagina himself states many times throughout the book that in order to save lives, he worked with the enemy. He offered them gifts, drank with them, made deals and worked the international connections he had in order to save his family and the lives of all those within the Mille Collins. Ultimately, this story is one of survive, not heroism - survival in the face of one the most terrible recorded genocides in history.