The day I left for Cambodia, Eliot got his first “boo-boo.” I heard his head make a “thonk,” and it scared me so much. He cried, of course, very hard, and we consoled him. As a first-time parent, I hated that it happened to him.
Yesterday I finished an autobiography of a young boy who barely survived the killing fields in Cambodia. His family did not survive, and he told the stories of his siblings, and his baby brother being killed. I’ll spare the gory details, but the author didn’t. It made me go numb.
Today we visited one of the many killing field sites. I had visited the Holocaust museum, so I was used to photos of such horrendous acts, but I had not prepared to see such things directly in life. Today I could have touched a tree that I was used to beat babies before throwing them into the mass grave just beside it. I recalled the “thonk” of Eliot’s head, and realized that in comparison to this, it was nothing. It broke my heart.
This just happened the decade before I was born! That kept running through my mind. We all believe that such horrendous acts ended with the Holocaust, but they haven’t. It amazes me what we have let happen in the world. We let Hitler happen. We let Stalin get away with similar things. And Pol Pot got away with this as well. I just don’t understand why. Maybe we never will.
There is so much more to write about. So much more to reflect upon. But not enough time. Photos can be seen by clicking here.
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