Upon Duvalier’s return to Haiti, Sr. Danielle at lunch was saying how she felt sorry for him. I thought how the heck can she feel sorry for him-the man who stole millions from his own country, he killed thousands, he left his country in rambles.
She said because it must be hard to see his country again so deteriorated. When he was “President” (my quotes not hers), flowers were everywhere, there was water in the rivers. It was a beautiful countragain so deteriorated. It was a beautiful country. I asked her how she could feel sorry for a man who has stolen so much from his people. She said he didn’t know any better. He learned from his father and wasn’t taught right from wrong. He lived a life of luxury and didn’t understand suffering or poverty. But she said, Aristide, he knew better. He lived with the poor, he understood suffering. He had a well formed conscious. That she said, I don’t understand. But I don’t judge either man, that is for God to decide.
A Little Seed Makes a Big Tree 