Strength in What Remains

I created this blog as an outlet to aid in my transition from a college student to whatever God has in store for me in the next season of my life. Since it's summertime I thought I'd share with you some reflections from my summer reading list. I find summer reading list to be one of life's greatest pleasures. As a child, my grandmother enrolled me in at least two summer reading programs a summer, where I read picture books in exchange for stickers and coloring books. My eight year old self did not know that public libraries support children's summer reading programs to keep children intellectually engaged during the summer months. But it's not only children who need to remain intellectually engaged during the summer months. Adults too experience more downtime in the summer, and our culture encourages us to fill that downtime with mindless television (a la Jerseylisciuos and The Bachelorette) and beach romance novels that often leave us irritated and depressed about the fate of humanity.

After spending the first two weeks of my summer vacation gorging on Extreme Couponing and Dancing with the Stars, I decided that I need to be more deliberate with my summer reading list. My roommate recommended a wonderful book, Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder, that I just finished reading. The novel was my first self-conscious exploration of the creative non-fiction genre. The first half of the book explores Deo's journey from a Tutsi refugee from Burundi, to a homeless New Yorker, to a student at Columbia University. I loved the way Kidder juxtaposed Deo's experiences with history of Burundi's Hutu vs. Tutsi ethnic conflict. Before I read this book I was only aware of the Hutu vs. Tutsi conflict as it applied to Rwanda, Burundi's neighbor. (If you ever want to read a well written novel about Tutsi xenophobia in Rwanda I recommend Murambi, The Book of the Bones by Boubacar Boris Diop.)

The second half of the book documents Kidder and Deo's trips back to Burundi as Deo works to open a medical clinic in his hometown. Deo spends a lot of time visiting the memorials of the hundreds of thousands who died during the conflict. Many of the memorials contain a banner with "Jamais Plus" (Never Again) splashed across the front. Kidder questions the function of these memorials because they serve the tourist trade more than they do the survivors. The novel raised many questions I struggled with as an undergrad such as: what is the function/purpose of violence? How should a country deal with insurgencies without killing every insurgent? How can a nation move forward in respect to their past? What is the individual's responsibility in the peace process?

Do these questions have answers? Probably not. But the act of asking questions allows me to make sense of the problem, and one must understand the problem in order to envision a solution. The next book I hope will bring me one step closer to a solution for a problem I do not understand is Mother Theresa: Beyond the Image by Anne Sebba. I'm hoping to finish this book in the next week. I'll let you know how it goes :)