Nicholas Lippold

Mr. McConnell

English 9: Survey of Literature

28 April 2017

Left to Tell Forgiveness Essay

Bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against

another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do (New American Bible Revised

Edition, Colossians 3:13). Left to Tell is a story of kindness and forgiveness from the main

character and author, Immaculee Ilibagiza, and the entire thing is a true and horrific story.

Immaculee knows God wants us to love and forgive everyone, even ones own oppressors and

those they do not like. Forgiveness helps people to move on with their lives and it lifts an almost

crushing weight off others souls. People who want revenge and this destroys their lives.

Felicien was sobbing. I could feel his shame. He looked up at me for only a moment, but

our eyes met. I reached out, touched his hands lightly, and quietly said what Id come to say. I

forgive you (Ilibagiza 204). This quote shows the forgiveness of someone who suffered losing

seventy-five percent of their family. It is rare to find someone to forgive in times of sadness or

death, and she sees it as almost another chore before moving on with her life. She was even able

to remarry and have a family of their own.

The opposite to forgiveness is revenge, which destroys and sullies a persons heart. To get

revenge infects a persons heart and soul with an uncontrollable disease with no medication or

cure. Mankind often loses to this infection with hate crime, racism and many other crimes, and
this is seen in Rwanda when people think they need to kill the Interahamwe after the Rwandan

Genocide. As burgomaster, Semana was a powerful politician in charge of arresting and

detaining the killers who had terrorized our area. Hed interrogated hundreds of Interahamwe and

knew better than anyone which killers had murdered whom (Ilibagiza 203). Immaculee says

He looted your parents home and robbed your familys plantation, Immaculee. We found your

dads farm machinery at his house, didnt we? Semana yelled at Felicien. After he killed Rose

and Damascene, he kept looking for you he wanted you dead so he could take over your

property. Didnt you pig (Ilibagiza 204). The quotes show how the world was obsessed with

revenge and murder after the already bad Rwandan genocide.

Forgiveness is very hard to accomplish, even in the lives of grade schoolers. People think

they do not need to forgive others because they do not need to forgive others because it can be

uncool, or that the individual would be undeserving of forgiveness. All people, in reality, deserve

to be forgiven. Forgiveness can stop many crimes that would not even exist without revenge. It

can also stop lying in each of mankind minds and racism. Forgiveness is all I have to offer

(Ilibagiza 204).

As the book, Left to Tell, progresses, the story is very forgiving and shows that anyone

can forgive even those who kill. Bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has

a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do (New American

Bible Revised Edition, Colossians 3:13). People need to forgive each other and pray to God for

forgiveness because the world can be rid of the most idiotic of crimes. Revenge is not the way

for humanity to go and we need to go back to the idea of everyones life is their own precious

property. They have reasons for their crimes and we need to forgive them.
 Works Cited

Ilibagiza, Immaculee, and Steve Erwin. Left to Tell: Discovering God amidst the Rwandan

Holocaust. Carlsbad, CA, Hay House, 2014

New American Bible Revised Edition. www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossians+3

%3A13&version=NABRE. Accessed 25 Apr. 2017.