What's to be Done?

Yesterday was a sobering time for us, as we visted a couple of the history sites surrounding Cambodia's blooody past.

First we went to a Musuem which was called S-21. During the time of Pol Pot's reign of terror, the Khmer Rouge converted Phnom Penh's biggest highschool into a prison. All of the classrooms were converted to prison cells. Here the Khmer Rouge brought prisoners which they thought would contaminate their intended classless society. If you were educated, biligual, literate, or even had children with similar qualities you were an immediate target. This prison was not where all, or even most of the killings took place during the Khmer Rouge's reign, which began in '75, but it was the largest one in the city, and it's estimated that more than 10,000 prisoner were excuted after behind held there. The Khmer Rouge only really kept track of adult killings, so it's only a guess has to how many children were also killed.

The prison, now turned into a genocide museum, was a very hard place to be. There are many photo's of the people who died, as well as photos of the terror that took place when the prison was functioning as such. It was very informative though. The history that we learned while being there helped us to clearly understand the events that led up to the genocide, as well as the events that led to the liberation of Cambodia by Vietnam. We learned a lot.

After we went to an area outside the city which has been called "The Killing Fields". This was the area where most of the prisoners from S-21 were taken to be killed. It's basically a field filled with hundreds of shallow graves, in which the Khmer Rouge pilled the dead into after they forced them to dig the grave themselves. All of the graves have been excavated so that the bodies could be creamated in the buddist way. All over the area there are empty pits. There's bones that are still embeded in the dirt, and even clothes are stuck in the ground or pilled up against trees. There wasn't much to say while walking through the field. We just walked around in silence and thought of the horror that must have taken place there.

So naturally after the genocide in Cambodia which left more than 1/4 of it's population dead, the world learned it's lesson...right? Unfortunatly not. Several other genocides have happened since, and continue to happen now. Do we even know what's really going on in Sudan, or Somalia, or the DRC? How can the world just sit by and let events like this take place? What can be done?

Perhaps when the super power countries of this world value human lives more than money or oil, somebody might do something to stop the genocides before it's far to late. Until then though, most of us will only learn of the millions of lives lost when the countries that are at civil war are at peace again, and a museum opens when it's safe to visit.

I realize its not as simple as that, but that seems like the obvious place to point the finger. It's also stagering to realize what human beings do to each other. How can people be so evil? Will there always be so much hate? The questions go on and on.

But I think the rubber has to meet the road again. What am I going to do? What are you going to do? Sure, I can just sit at home and watch the news, and perhaps even shed a tear for the millions who perish or become refugees. But when I'm old in my warm bed, will those tears have made a difference? Or should I just write a cheque? Will that have helped? I really don't know? What now? ......?