The Capacity to hate

Although I have been in Rwanda for ten days now, I haven't really had a chance to get to the computer and sit down with my first post. I spent my first five days in Rwanda observing/participating in a workshop on Human Rights, Advocacy and Action put forth by Global Youth Connect. To go over everything now would take to long. However, I will discuss one point that left an impression. We were to consider our own relationship with human rights. The Rwandan delegates seemed to have considered this question in the past, while I sat there dumbfounded, squirming for an answer. Luckily, I wasn't forced to give a response. As cheesy as it sounds, I was slapped in the face by how much I take for granted.
Today we visited two genocide memorials and a school. By the time we left the second memorial, most people were in tears. I, in contrast, stood their utterly confused. I couldn't understand the hate that led to such violence. In contrast to the Holocaust, carried out by the state apparatus, the Rwandan genocide was perpetrated by victims' neighbors, family members and friends. I am naive, yes, but still, despite what I have read, I can't fathom how so many people could hate so much to commit such brutal violence. People weren't silently killed, out of the immediate site of their murderers. They were killed using machetes and masus. We were in a church building where many children were killed. The guide described how one of the children was crucified on the wall, while others were thrust against the walls and were killed by the impact of force.