community.

for my African history class, i have been reading a book titled We Wish to Inform you that Tomorrow we will be Killed with Our Families: Stories from Rwanda. its a fascinating and detailed account of the history of Rwanda leading up to the genocide in 1994. The author, Philip Gourevitch, spent a great deal of time in the country gathering information, first hand accounts, impressions, memories, bits of memorabilia that might give reason to the hatred and war.
in 1996, at night when driving through the countryside, his caravan pulled over in anticipation of attacks. a woman's cry rose in the night twice. her voice was accompanied by the shrieks of others. the next morning, a Rwandan man explained to Gourevitch that the woman was being attacked and on the verge of being raped. The whooping was a conventional distress signal that carried an obligation in the countryside. "You hear it, you do it, too. And you come running... So there is a responsibility. I cry, you cry. You cry, I cry. We all come running, and the one that stays quiet, the one that stays home, must explain... This is simple. This is normal. This is community."
What does this say about our community as Christians? Do we cry and come running when others cry? Or do we ignore the hurting around us?