Whats Going Through My Head Before I Head To Bed.

Hey there. I had/have some stuff rolling through my head right now that I'm going to try to get down on some paper; please be warned that it may or may not make sense; it may or may not be politically correct, and it probably will be sort of boring.

Okay, so today, the APSAI students had a history class with the awesome missionary Jim Hosack. After their class, we ran into him at the Rice Lady, when we were getting lunch. After chatting for a little bit about the class, he looked at us, and expressed how surprised he was when he realized that none of the students knew anything about the Khmer Rouge that took place in Cambodia. He told us that he had started talking about it, assuming we were fairly educated about the whole thing, and realized that not one of the students had any idea what he was talking about. So then he turned to us; did we know anything about the Khmer Rouge? I had heard the name, and knew that it was a genocide that had occurred in Cambodia. I knew that when we went to renew our visas in November, we were going to visit the "killing fields" and had been told that its an emotional time, so "be prepared". But that was about where my knowledge ended.

So when I got back to our dorms, I hopped on Google, and started to learn more about this stuff. I pretty much sat on my bed for an hour reading article after article, wondering why this was the first time I had ever learned any of this stuff.

Maybe I just missed all of this in my history books. Maybe I just ignored it. Maybe I'm just a dork.
But 13 Jr. and Sr.'s in Universities from around the U.S. knew little to nothing about this.

In a four year span, 1975-1979, it is estimated that more than 2 million Cambodian men, women, and children were killed. The bizarre thing is why they chose to murder who they did: A communistic worldview led Pol Pot and other members of the group, Angka, to murder anyone who had an education, anyone who rebelled, anyone who looked at them wrong... Pointless reasons.

The Angka group remained completely secretive; the mass majority of Cambodians had no idea who was in charge of their country, who was responsible for the deaths, who was making the decisions. All they knew was that they were being forcibly removed from their homes; forced to participate in back breaking labor, and forced to watch their parents, children, brothers, sisters, wives, husbands be worked to death.

Now. I get that this is way different from what I usually blog about. I mean, geez... Why do we really care Jess? We just want to know what crazy antics are occurring in Thailand.

But the thought came to me tonight as I was re-skimming information. I take wayyyy to much stuff for granted. Yeah, I know. I'm a "rich" American student, chilling in Thailand with a phone, and a Laptop, and a camera, and seemingly endless money. But I'm not talking about that kind of stuff.

I, at this very moment, am working my way toward a college degree. In November, I will have 2 more semesters before I graduate with my B.A. in Intercultural Studies. If our country was under the rule of Pol Pot, or anyone who thought like him... I would be 2 semesters away from a death sentence. My Dad, my Mom, the majority of my family, would probably already be killed, or be doing manual labor, because they simply "knew" too much. Not about politics, or the personal life of the authorities; simply because they took some classes. I live right in the beautiful Seattle area for most of the school year. But if we were under the Khmer Rouge gorvernment, we would probably all be forced out to... Yakima or something.

And we whine about Health Bills. And welfare. And taxes. And the next election.

So what's my point? I have 2. Haha.

1. As Christians... I don't think that its wrong to disagree with the President. Doesn't matter if they are Republican, or Democrat, or Gold, Guns, and Homeschoolers. We should be constantly raising up our leader in prayer, asking God to guide his thoughts, touch his heart, be present with his family. And we should be grateful that we live in a country that demands information. We get to know the name of our leader! We get to Google the papers that he writes, and the decisions that he makes, and educate ourselves about what's going on.

2. Take advantage of the opportunity to have your education be valued. I'll be the first to admit that homework sucks. But in our country, we have the opportunity for education, and it's valued. At least, that's what they tell us : )

Sorry to get all... I dunno. Save the planet? Count your blessings? Sermony? D. All of the above!
But that's whats going through my head as I head to bed.
Goodnight!



BBC Article- Basic information, brief overview
TIME Article- A little more in depth, information about what happened to the leadership responsible for the killings.
Article about one of the torturers, before his trial.
Yale- The University gathered a lot of information, and compiled it on this page... if you want to dig deeper.