Would You Forgive Someone Who Committed a Large-Scale Genocide But Wanted to Genuinely Change?

In Rwanda in 1994, nearly 800,000 people were brutally killed, mostly from the Tutsi minority, over the course of just one hundred days. Today, the same people who committed these horrific acts live among their victims. Journalist Philip Gourevitch described how Rwanda chose an extraordinary path toward reconciliation: The government implemented a nationwide process, reviving a traditional system called gacaca—community courts without lawyers, where entire towns publicly heard cases, encouraged confession, and collectively decided on punishment. Forgiveness in Rwanda meant letting go of revenge—not forgetting, not erasing the pain, but choosing to coexist. Many individuals still struggle with their personal wounds, but overall, Rwandan society has moved forward.

Indeed, this is a climb to a new level of existence. Even if people do not consciously understand it, they have, through this process, included the positive force of love, bestowal, and connection that dwells in nature into their lives. Whether they realize it or not, they have agreed with the governance of the force of nature that created, guided, and ultimately carried out these events through human hands. This acceptance, even if partial and unconscious, is an incredibly high spiritual act. It will help and strengthen them.

Imagine losing your loved ones in the most horrific way, could you really forgive their killers? We are capable of doing this either consciously, by drawing the positive force of love, bestowal, and connection into our lives, or unconsciously, simply because there is no other way forward.

Even by the tough law of nature, forgiveness becomes necessary. Sometimes, the understanding comes from realizing there are no alternatives. But at the deepest level, a good force acts on us at all times, even in the worst atrocities. We must recognize that such events are not created by us alone. We are guided. An upper force that is good, omnipotent, and perfect operates behind the scenes.

This raises another question: If the upper force is completely good and benevolent, how could it let such horrors and suffering happen in the first place? On this point, very intensive inner work begins, a soul-searching so deep it feels like unwinding an infinite tangle. But this effort leads to a higher level of consciousness and understanding.

Some say we must constantly open old wounds, expose all the pain, and confront every injustice, while others say the opposite: do not reopen the past. I also say not to reopen the past. We cannot resolve anything that took place in the past by ourselves. Human beings, with all their intellect and emotion, cannot find a solution to these agonizing dilemmas.

We should encourage each other not to dwell endlessly on past evils, but to rise above them, to seek the positive force hidden within reality, and to align ourselves with it. We can then begin a healing process for individuals, society, and for humanity as a whole.

Based on KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on June 10, 2021. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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