Saturday, February 13, 2010

The Killing Fields/S21

I stepped back when I saw this picture at S21 in Cambodia. This young boy looks identical to my son Mitchell when he was young, and even today. However, this nameless young boy didn't get the same opportunity that my Mitchell has. This young boy was murdered under Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge savage regime. He would have been tossed into the air and caught on the end of a bayonette or he would have been hit behind the head with a steel bar. He was killed for no reason other than he belonged to a parent or family, that Pol Pot considered an enemy. This young boy's photo, is one of thousands, displayed at the S21 Torture Museum in Cambodia.

These are some of the thousands of innocent, beautiful young children who were murdered for no reason, and dumped into huge graves in the Killing Fields of Cambodia's country side.
This is S21 (Tuol Sleng ), the high school turned into a torture site where Pol Pot's soldiers extracted bogus confessions from innocent women, children, and men of all ages. From here they were trucked, blindfolded, to the killing fields. These were innocent civilians, guilty of nothing. I walked through each torture room; I wasn't the only visitor shedding a silent tear.

The killing fields were the final resting place for some 2 million innocent Cambodians. Piled into pits and burried.
Despite their atrocious past, Cambodians are very peaceful and receptive.
Angkor Wat is a beautiful place. The grandeur and atmosphere of the site really left an impression on me. I'm eager to return.

1 comment:

Brian said...

Wow. I'll bet you guys felt really... heavy, when you left the "torture museum". I remember hearing about that place once - maybe on a travel show, or something.

Atrocious is a good word for this period in Cambodia's history. Tragic is another one that comes to mind.

They sure have come a long way. can't wait to see it for myself.