Quotes
(Movies)
The Interpreter
Everyone
who loses somebody wants revenge on someone..., on God if they can't
find anyone else.
But in Africa, in Matobo, the Ku believe that the only way to end
grief is to save a life.
If someone is murdered, a year of mourning ends with a ritual that
we call the Drowning Man Trial.
At dawn, the killer is put in a boat. He's taken out on the water
and he's dropped. He's bound so that he can't swim.
The family of the dead then has to make a choice: They can let him
drown or they can swim out and save him.
The Ku believe that if the family lets the killer drown, they will
have justice but spend the rest of their lives mourning.
But if they save him, if they admit that life isn't always just,
that very act can take away their sorrow.
Vengeance is a lazy form of grief.
The gunfire around us makes it hard to hear. But the human voice is
different from other sounds. It can be heard over noises that bury
everything else. Even when it is not shouting. Even if it is just a
whisper. Even the lowest whisper can be heard over armies when it is
telling the truth.
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