The Importance of Empathy: Walking in Loung Ung’s Footsteps in Cambodia
You are unauthorized to view this page. Username Password Remember Me Forgot Password
Tag: Cambodia
You are unauthorized to view this page. Username Password Remember Me Forgot Password
Please confirm you want to block this member.
You will no longer be able to:
Please note: This action will also remove this member from your connections and send a report to the site admin. Please allow a few minutes for this process to complete.
Photograph by Michael Coghlan[/caption]
I walked silently around the Tuol Sleng Museum of Genocide. Formerly Tuol Svay Pray High School before being converted to S-21, Tuol Sleng holds onto an eerie history lesson that is still not actually taught in Cambodian schools today. I was fortunate enough to meet with one of the only two living survivors of S-21 (the last five survivors have since passed away), who told me how passionately he feels about Cambodia’s history and how he wants these stories spread around the world.. Reaching into my purse to buy his book, I realized my wallet was gone. It could have fallen out anywhere in the museum grounds.
I walked to security to report the loss, but already knew in my gut that it was gone. A young, bored-looking Cambodian boy overheard me and jumped at the opportunity to help me look. When we agreed it was missing, we sat down on a bench and just relaxed. I told him I didn’t mind the loss too much—it was just a bit of bad luck. He turned to me quickly, but spoke to me slowly:
“No. In my culture, we have a belief. Losing your wallet is good luck. It reminds you that you haven’t lost your life. It’s just stuff.”
Sitting in front of his country’s most violent landmark, his words could not have resonated with me more. At the beginning of the day, we’re all not too different. We all just want to value our own lives and have them valued by others. A five year old girl during a civil war, a fifteen year old boy whose family has endured a nation of genocide, and a twenty five year old girl working to improve the livelihood of farmers who have survived: all three of us quite different, but our humanity connects us. Our desire to tell stories, and to value and enhance the lives of others.
Through her memoir, Loung Ung brings you to Cambodia’s bustling cities and quiet, colorful countryside. Cambodia, a nation shaped by a complicated recent history, is home to a few million people who are probably just like you at the beginning of the day, but may be completely different at the end. As they say in Cambodia, “it’s same-same but different.”