I am not a particularly spiteful person, but there are a few people that so disturb me that I can feel nothing but contempt and anger when I think of them and their actions. Very few of these people I know intimately. Most are just names from history, but I reserve special contempt for those that are not even names, but simple memories.
From 1975 to 1979 Pol Pot's evil Khmer Rouge kept Cambodia under an iron thumb and during his reign of terror murdered, tortured, raped, and killed nearly 3 million of the 7 million Cambodians living at the time. The Khmer Rouge were pure evil. Period. They wanted nothing less than to keep the people of Cambodia in the dark about everything outside of the country. They wanted a regime that would remain unchallenged by education or courage or love or religion. To achieve these ends, the Khmer Rouge set up a series of prisons for torture, and various locations around the country to murder the victims after no further information was gained.
"The Killing Fields" is the most infamous mass murder site of its type, and it is associated with the most notorious prison, Tuol Sleng, or S21. Between the two locations (both small) more than 35,000 people had their lives ripped apart and ended prematurely through some of the most horrific torture and murder methods available. They raped women and children, they beheaded captured soldiers with a palm branch, they smashed small children against the "Killing Tree." To say the least, it was a somber site, full of the remains of 20,000 innocents, filled with laconic signs describing the horror.
But one couple decided it was an appropriate place to laugh and have a good time.
Picture in your mind a typical mid-twenties couple. He of middle height, brown hair, solid build, cargo shorts and polo shirt. She of the same height, blonde, slim, and wearing a pink sundress. Both are carrying cameras, and he has a small backpack.
Now imagine this same couple walking up to signs describing such gems as "Most of the women and children had no clues because they were raped before they were murdered" and laughing about it.
I don't care who you are or where you are from, that behavior is simply unacceptable. I've seen people joke around at the Holocaust museum, and laugh inside a crematory in Dachau Concentration Camp, but I never did anything about it. I was afraid of being judged by other people for me trying to enforce others to do the right thing. So I remained silent, and fumed. And did nothing.
Now the vast majority of people wouldn't and won't do anything in this situation. Whether for reasons similar to my own or due to other causes, people such as the ones I have described manage to go through life thinking that they are not rude and disrespectful and irreverent. I will stand aside no more, and I did not.
I did not go talk to them the first time I saw them laughing and joking, nor even the second time. But the third time I saw them laughing in the space of just a few minutes, I took action. Before they had even finished laughing I walked up to them and said, "I'm glad that you are laughing and having a good time on the gravesites of 20,000 murdered people."
The dude responded in either an Australian or New Zealand accent, "Chill out dude, that's not even what we were laughing about."
"I don't care what you are laughing about, you don't go into places like this and disrespect the dead," I responded.
"Get the fuck out of here, man, you're being really rude," said the jerk.
"You know, you two really need to grow the fuck up," said I as turned away.
"Same to you buddy," was the final reply I heard as the two walked away from me. I rejoined my tour group, received an unnecessary apology from the guide, and tried to stop my hands from shaking in rage.
Did I make a difference? I don't know, nor do I care. I didn't confront them to try and change their minds about what they were doing, nor did I use the most tactful means available. I'm sure that if I wanted to, I could have approached them and had a more reasonable discussion. But they didn't deserve it. They needed to feel my contempt and know my displeasure. I was not the only person to be angered by the couple, but I was the only one to do anything about it.
Death is only funny when you are the one that is facing it. Gallows humor is a great way to try and stay sane when faced with situations that will quickly bring down the mind into a vortex of despair and fear. I almost sat on an IED. Did I worry about it? Yes, a bit. But instead of focusing on what could have been, I joked that had the IED exploded, the whole left side of my body just wouldn't look right. Funny? Not really, unless you are there. But I'm not about to joke about anyone that stepped on a mine and lost both of their legs. Not funny.
There is a time and place for everything, but joking and having a good time at the "Killing Fields" is not one of them. I am over standing aside and watching people get away with the wrong thing. I was raised better than that, and so if I am in a position to do something about it, I will. I am not going to make any friends, but I will consider it a small penance in memory of those that have gone before, and honor their memory.
As it has been said before, we must study history so that we do not repeat the mistakes of the past.
Happy Fourth of July from Hanoi, by the way.
From 1975 to 1979 Pol Pot's evil Khmer Rouge kept Cambodia under an iron thumb and during his reign of terror murdered, tortured, raped, and killed nearly 3 million of the 7 million Cambodians living at the time. The Khmer Rouge were pure evil. Period. They wanted nothing less than to keep the people of Cambodia in the dark about everything outside of the country. They wanted a regime that would remain unchallenged by education or courage or love or religion. To achieve these ends, the Khmer Rouge set up a series of prisons for torture, and various locations around the country to murder the victims after no further information was gained.
"The Killing Fields" is the most infamous mass murder site of its type, and it is associated with the most notorious prison, Tuol Sleng, or S21. Between the two locations (both small) more than 35,000 people had their lives ripped apart and ended prematurely through some of the most horrific torture and murder methods available. They raped women and children, they beheaded captured soldiers with a palm branch, they smashed small children against the "Killing Tree." To say the least, it was a somber site, full of the remains of 20,000 innocents, filled with laconic signs describing the horror.
But one couple decided it was an appropriate place to laugh and have a good time.
Picture in your mind a typical mid-twenties couple. He of middle height, brown hair, solid build, cargo shorts and polo shirt. She of the same height, blonde, slim, and wearing a pink sundress. Both are carrying cameras, and he has a small backpack.
Now imagine this same couple walking up to signs describing such gems as "Most of the women and children had no clues because they were raped before they were murdered" and laughing about it.
I don't care who you are or where you are from, that behavior is simply unacceptable. I've seen people joke around at the Holocaust museum, and laugh inside a crematory in Dachau Concentration Camp, but I never did anything about it. I was afraid of being judged by other people for me trying to enforce others to do the right thing. So I remained silent, and fumed. And did nothing.
Now the vast majority of people wouldn't and won't do anything in this situation. Whether for reasons similar to my own or due to other causes, people such as the ones I have described manage to go through life thinking that they are not rude and disrespectful and irreverent. I will stand aside no more, and I did not.
I did not go talk to them the first time I saw them laughing and joking, nor even the second time. But the third time I saw them laughing in the space of just a few minutes, I took action. Before they had even finished laughing I walked up to them and said, "I'm glad that you are laughing and having a good time on the gravesites of 20,000 murdered people."
The dude responded in either an Australian or New Zealand accent, "Chill out dude, that's not even what we were laughing about."
"I don't care what you are laughing about, you don't go into places like this and disrespect the dead," I responded.
"Get the fuck out of here, man, you're being really rude," said the jerk.
"You know, you two really need to grow the fuck up," said I as turned away.
"Same to you buddy," was the final reply I heard as the two walked away from me. I rejoined my tour group, received an unnecessary apology from the guide, and tried to stop my hands from shaking in rage.
Did I make a difference? I don't know, nor do I care. I didn't confront them to try and change their minds about what they were doing, nor did I use the most tactful means available. I'm sure that if I wanted to, I could have approached them and had a more reasonable discussion. But they didn't deserve it. They needed to feel my contempt and know my displeasure. I was not the only person to be angered by the couple, but I was the only one to do anything about it.
Death is only funny when you are the one that is facing it. Gallows humor is a great way to try and stay sane when faced with situations that will quickly bring down the mind into a vortex of despair and fear. I almost sat on an IED. Did I worry about it? Yes, a bit. But instead of focusing on what could have been, I joked that had the IED exploded, the whole left side of my body just wouldn't look right. Funny? Not really, unless you are there. But I'm not about to joke about anyone that stepped on a mine and lost both of their legs. Not funny.
There is a time and place for everything, but joking and having a good time at the "Killing Fields" is not one of them. I am over standing aside and watching people get away with the wrong thing. I was raised better than that, and so if I am in a position to do something about it, I will. I am not going to make any friends, but I will consider it a small penance in memory of those that have gone before, and honor their memory.
As it has been said before, we must study history so that we do not repeat the mistakes of the past.
Happy Fourth of July from Hanoi, by the way.
