My mom and dad refused to believe that people who had grown up together in peace and friendship, had gone to the same schools, spoken the same language, and listened to the same music, could overnight be blinded by ethnic hatred and start to brutally kill one another. They simply didn't accept as true that less than two years of a multiparty system and competition for power could poison people's brains so much. Savo Heleta
About This Quote

John E. Gordon, the author of the quote, wrote the essay in 1981 when his parents were being pressured to leave South Africa immediately. The saying is a poignant reflection on the "thousand cuts" that have left some South Africans mentally vulnerable to establishing allegiances based on racial identity. The quote reflects on the long-term effects of the oppression of apartheid. It is clear that Gordon's parents were aware of the many "thousand cuts" but did not want to believe them possible.

Source: Not My Turn To Die: Memoirs Of A Broken Childhood In Bosnia

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  1. I realize that what happened in Bosnia could happen anywhere in the world, particularly in places that are diverse and have a history of conflict. It only takes bad leadership for a country to go up in flames, for people of different ethnicity, color, or...
  2. The story Grandpa told us helped me realize that people cannot be divided into groups by ethnicity, religion, or any other feature, only into groups of good, bad, and indifferent people.
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  4. Still, I never heard him say that he hated or wanted to hurt or kill someone for all the horrific things that had been happening to him and his family.
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