From ancient tales of mythical heroes to modern-day stories of bravery and sacrifice, the idea of heroism continues to captivate the human imagination.
It is through acts of heroism that we witness the best of human potential and aspirations, as individuals rise above their limitations and selflessly embrace a higher purpose. That is what President Kagame and his fellow liberators demonstrated when they took up arms against a brutal state machinery to challenge a dictatorship and later put their lives on the line to stop the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi.
Through his readiness to sacrifice his own life to liberate yours, he reminds us of the importance of courage, selflessness, and determination in facing the challenges of life. Indeed, his example teaches us that heroism embodies the very best of our essence as people and lights the path to greatness for every one of us, if only we give it a shot, like he did.
The following poem is one in a cluster of poems penned to celebrate and capture the echoes, and lessons drawn, from the brilliance of a man who has faced extra-ordinary adversity and triumphed over a milliard of constraints to squeeze possibilities out of improbabilities.
True Heroism
Lingers on
Like an eternal idea;
It does not deflate
Into nothing
Like a ‘balloon’
That crashes,
Uninvited,
Onto the sharp end
Of a stainless
‘Needle’.
True heroism
Lingers on
Like a shared promise.
It fuels and feeds
A national consciousness
And it is never
An irrational,
Untenable thought,
Pursued by
A lonely, lost soul.
True heroism
Has long arms
Of memory
Into the past
And tender fingers
That caress
The contours of hope
For a solid the future
Today, many
Across this land
Sit in the privacy
Of their minds
And view reels
Of mental films
Featuring Urwagasabo
Superstars:
Sons and daughters,
With the indomitable @PK
As tip of the spear,
Inspired by values
Greater than self
Who marched into battle
To free a battered land:
Some never to return
Others to reappear
Marked by battle scars
And enriched
By triumph
Over evil.
You see them
Across the majesty
Of our rolling hills.
Some in wheelchairs
But still
With steel
In their eyes.
You hear them
Championing
A national vision.
You feel them
As a shield over your dreams
For you heard him right:
Surrender
To silent slumber
Without a tremor
In your heart.
You are inspired
By their life.
Challenged
By their courage.
Humbled
By their magnanimity.
Thrilled
By the idea
Of a true hero
For a neighbor
A brother
A sister
A mother
A father.
True Heroes
Living among us.
True heroism
Lingers on
Sketched on a canvass
Of lost legs, lost arms, lost eyes
But anchored by survivors’
Emboldened souls
As songs of hate
That fueled the pogrom
Of the Tutsi in 1994
Were silenced,
While foods of blood
Were dried
By unbelievable valiance
And warm breezes
Of forgiveness
Born of homegrown
Gacaca conversations.
Now, we gather,
Together, to soak in
Songs of brotherhood
By millions of youths
Driving a rational
Conversation of nationalism;
Uninspired
By the rantings
Of alien demagogues.
True heroism
Lingers on
In the youths’ choice
To believe
In liberating
Narratives
Not in dehumanizing
Superlatives
True heroism
Lingers on
In the Youths’ embrace
Of the enduring value
Of Agaciro
Underpinned
By a readiness
To Sacrifice.
Their glowing
External façade
Belies their
Deeper
Understanding
That no price
Is too high to pay
To fortify a future
Built on a past
Of blood
And broken
Bones.
The author is a former Ambassador of Rwanda to Turkey and former High Commissioner to India and United Kingdom.