Over the breakfast chop and ale this morning I read a very moving and inspirational piece on the BBC web site. It concerns a remarkable man named Captain Mbaye Diagne, a Senegalese UN peacekeeper who, with no thought for his own safety, saved the lives of hundreds if not thousands of civilians during the tribal genocide in Rwanda in 1994.
I do recommend you read the whole thing yourself (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/2014/newsspec_6954/index.html). It's sad, horrifying and ultimately tragic, but Captain Diagne's extraordinary humanity radiates from the words of those who witnessed his deeds first hand; it lifts you.
What all the more singular about Captain Diagne is his humour. Everyone reports that he was a genuinely funny man, who delighted in joking and laughing. I suppose we expect our heroic types to be silent and stolid, a cross between James Bond and Seneca. Diagne didn't fit the mould. What most struck people who met him apparently was his infectious gap-toothed smile. Just looking at the hysterically over-exposed Polaroids of him in uniform is enough to confirm the power of Captain Diagne's smile. It transcends language, culture, political antipathy, you name it, and grabs the beholder by the lapels.
Captain Diagne at times literally put himself between gunman and civilians to prevent killings. Can you imagine what super-human courage that takes? To put yourself in the firing line to spare the life of someone you've never met before? What saved him in these instances was his joy and humour. He disarmed and pacified the violent with his innate charm.
His life was cruelly cut short in a mortar blast in May 1994.
I felt ashamed when I read of this man's life, ashamed of my petty anger, negativity and trivial preoccupations. It's time to let the suburban anger go, and to luxuriate in simply being alive. My hat is off to you, Captain Diagne, you've saved another soul.
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