It’s sunny and yet it’s so dark, there’s birds chirping and yet it’s so heavy, there’s hundreds of people and yet it’s so quite. The Killing Fields is by far the heaviest place I’ve ever been. This might be the longest and darkest blog I’ve written but please take the time to read it all the way through. If you EVER get the chance to visit the killing fields in Phenom Penh don’t hesitate to go. This is a small description of what we witnessed and some of it is hard to read.
Men, women, children, toddlers, and babies were all taken to camps and brutally murdered. If they didn’t die in prison first that is, from either malnutrition, diseases or even torture devices they were taken away to camps. Most of them had no idea what was happening or where they were even going. They were either blind folded or taken at night by the truck loads 2-3 times a month which eventually turned into a weekly basis. They were all told by guards they were going back home not knowing that there future was soon to be death. Shackled by there feet and hands wired behind there backs all families were torn apart, men in one area, women in the other and the younger children stayed with there mom. At the camps ceremonial music was played so loud to hide the screams and cries of the victims. Some victims even had there throat cut open by thick and sharp leaves so they physically could not even make a sound. Everyone around the camp just thought the military was training and playing music. They did whatever they had to do to hide the mass genocide that was happening.
Bullets were too expensive back then so every person there was hit and killed with either axes, machetes, bamboo sticks, iron rods, and whatever else was the cheapest. Some bled to death, some immediately killed, and some even had there heads chopped off with hoes and various other tools. Soon after the mom’s with babies arrived they were taken away from each other and the guards would break the legs of the babies and smash there heads against a tree all while the mom’s watched. After killing there children in front of them they would then strip the women of there clothes and rape them, some unconscious, before killing them. After the victims died they were put in mass graves on top of one another and covered with chemicals to hide the stench of the decaying bodies. One mass grave site had 166 people and the biggest one had 450. There was an estimated 8,985 corpses at this one killing field, which was the biggest, and there were many more killing fields all over Cambodia.
Seeing and hearing this literally broke my heart, knowing so many people were brutally tortured and murdered for no apparent reason was something I still haven’t processed yet. After seeing this I thought “wow, I’m seriously lucky and so is the rest of America.” America has had some pretty crappy times but nothing compared to this. From 1975-1979 more than a million people were stripped from there homes, torn apart from there family and murdered or were forced to murder others. I’m writing this in order to give some insight to the rest of the world or whoever reads this. I’m not writing this to be nasty or to scare people. As hard as it for me to write this it’s just cold hard facts and simply the truth. This was yet another reminder for me to love everyday like it’s my last, smile like I’ve never smiled before. Hug my loved ones on a daily basis and just to enjoy life. Hold nothing back and hold no grudges. Don’t be angry over stupid stuff or annoyed over silly things that can be fixed. You never know when and if something bad is going to happen.
This was yet another reminder of how important it is to come to know the Lord and come to walk with the Lord. If you died today where would you go? Heaven or Hell? And I want you to seriously think about that, it’s a hard question but a good question to ask. Trust me, it makes me uncomfortable just typing it. You don’t have to comment below saying it but I would like to leave yall with that question.
