The film “Hotel Rwanda” tells the story of Paul Rusesabagina and his family and how his actions saved over a thousand refugees during the Rwandan genocide. In the early 1990s, tensions between the Tutsi and Hutu ethnic groups increased in Rwanda. The crisis appears to be averted when the president signs a peace treaty, but is assassinated shortly thereafter. This event is the straw that breaks the camel's back for the Hutu rebels, who begin to brutally attack all Tutsi families, especially children. Paul manages to bribe the soldiers to allow him to take his family and neighbors to his hotel, where they can stay under UN protection. The UN evacuates foreigners staying in the hotel, but not Rwandans. With violence increasing and time running out, Paul desperately tries to provide supplies and protection to all the people who are now stuck in the hotel. Eventually he manages to evacuate the hotel and escape to Tanzania. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original Essay The events of the film took place in 1994, and I couldn't help but realize that I was about the same age as Paul's children at the time. I can't imagine the things they must have seen; things I would only see in a horror movie. At one point, a character asks how people can be so cruel, and Paul replies "Hate... Madness... I don't know..." which seems as close to a reason as there is. America has many diversity issues that need to be worked on, but compared to the events in Rwanda, our problems are trivial. An organization or society can interfere with a person's ability to act morally. In “Hotel Rwanda” the ethnic extremists are the aggressors, as they believed the Tutsis were traitors and less than human. They also attacked Hutu who were helping the Tutsi, so for many they had to choose between killing or being killed. In most cases the choices are not that extreme, but societal influence can still have a negative effect. For example, in America, the homeless are generally ignored or the source of jokes. This is a fact that prevents many people from taking action when they alone would probably help. Even an organization such as a business can prevent people from following their conscience. For example, a salesperson at an electronics store is likely to try to sell a customer an expensive, sophisticated HDMI cable, when a simple, inexpensive one would work just as well. The salesperson may not agree with this type of dishonesty, but when it comes to meeting a quota, they have to do what the company says. I've mentioned before that I work in a bakery, and even though I mainly deal with desserts now, when served to customers there was a fairly common occurrence that could have been characterized as a choice between what was expected and what was right . The situation would be this: a customer arrives and wants to order a cake. She could be old or young, black or white, regular or newcomer, the only thing they had in common was that they were women. I suspect this is just because women tend to order more cakes than men. In any case, the customer begins to explain how he wants his cake to be. They pay unusual attention to small details, such as exact color shades (example: very light red, not pink), special fillings or icings (dark icing, but not too sweet), or very long inscriptions. Being familiar with this process, I would take the order as precisely as possible and explain any points of confusion to the decorator who will prepare the cake. We made the cake.