Reader Digest Article

~Reader Digest June 2008 Issue~
Pg116-129 "A Healing Fire"

WTF this article is freaking long. Sian sia waste time!
Written by Hui Jian
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What this article is about
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Sokreaksa Himm grew up in Siem Reap, a town in northern Cambodia. The Khmer rouge came to power on April 17,1975 when he was just 11. His family was forced to leave their home like many others and were set to labouring in the countryside. They were exhausted, demoralised and filled with despair. One morning, Sokreaksa Himm saw the chlops sharpening their knives and axes, he ran back to tell his father that he suspects the chlops would kill them this morning. His father was shocked and in despair. He had become very desperate. A chlop came to their house and told his father that the angkar loeu is inviting him in the shelter. One of the chlops arrested his father during the journey to the shelter and the chlops told him that they suspect that they served the American soldiers therefore being an enemy to them. The chlops dragged his father back to the house and summoned his family to come outside. They put them in an ox-cart and drove them from the village and told them that they are to be executed. About three kilometres from the village, they came to a stop. They waited as the chlops finished digging a trench that would be their grave. The chlops hack at his father's head after forcing him to kneel in front of the trench and he fell into the grave. One of the chlops jumped into the grave to finish him off. The chlops then told the children to kneel in front of the grave. A man called Mao hit Sokreaksa Himm from behind and he fell on top of his father. His younger brothers, sisters and children from other families tumbled on top of him. The chlops jumped into the grave and started hacking wildly at us. They missed Sokreaksa Himm. The chlops thought that everyone was dead and they went off to find other victims. Five minutes after the chlops were gone, Sokreaksa Himm tried to escape from the grave and bodies that piled on him. He climbed out of the grave and found a hiding place in the woods. He also seen his mother and older sister being killed while he was hiding. After three days, Sokreaksa Himm was tired and went back to the village. The villagers welcomed him although they had just recently accused him. They fed him and he had a foster father. Sokreaksa Himm wanted vengeance. By early 1979 the Khmer Rouge had been driven from power by the Vietnamese army. Sokreaksa Himm went to Siem Reap, went back to school and started a new life. In 1983, Sokreaksa Himm joined the police so as to use this position to avenge his family. He was unable to fulfil his promises to his family that he would avenge for them and therefore fled across the Thai border to a refugee camp. He applied to go to Canada and arrived in Toronto in 1989. He was given accommodation at a centre run by World Vision. There were many people that befriended him. Chuck Ferguson, a World Vision member and a friend of Sokreaksa Himm, gave Sokreaksa Himm a Bible to read and made him feel that there was a new life for him. Sokreaksa Himm went to Tyndale University College in Toronto for his bachelor's degree. He started a cleaning company after graduating and settled down to his new life in Toronto. In 1998, Sokreaksa Himm received a letter indicating that there was a great need for good Christian teaching in Cambodia. Many Cambodians also needed counselling to help them overcome the emotional scars inflicted by the Khmer Rouge.
Sokreaksa Himm took years to consider reconcilation and in the end decided to forgive the people who murdered his family members.Sokreaksa Himm went back to Cambodia in May 1999. Sokreaksa Himm arrived in the village with two Cambodian pastors. He went to his foster father's house. Many came to visit him. Sokreaksa Himm asked about the people that murdered his family. He found out that four of the six people that Sokreaksa Himm was looking for had been killed during the Vietnamese invasion. Only Mao(The one that hit Sokreaksa Himm with the hoe) and Ean(The one that killed his mother) were alive. Sokreaksa Himm went to Mao's house. Mao was fearful. They had lunch and talked. Sokreaksa Himm told Mao that out of 33 people that were killed on that the day, one survived and that it was him. Mao was surprised and looked frightened. Sokreaksa Himm told him that he had come today to forgive Mao for whatever he had done.Then Sokreaksa Himm went off to forgive Kmao, the former deputy village leader who made all the decisions. Sokreaksa Himm promised the villages to come back to dig wells and build a school before leaving Siem Reap. Sokreaksa Himm met up with Ean who was in the neighbouring village to forgive him. Ean acknowledged his guilt and thanked Sokreaksa Himm for forgiving him.

Reflection
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From this story, i can feel and understand how difficult it was for Sokreaksa Himm to forgive the ones that murdered his family. There were many difficulties to overcome. He was able to overcome the thought of killing his parents' murderers. It was also very difficult for him to go meet the murderers face to face and tell them that he forgived them. From this story, i learnt that vengeance is not the way to solve a problem. Sokreaksa Himm could not ease the guilty feeling in him, he had always wanted revenge. It was only until that he decided that he forgive the people and after forgiving them, Sokreaksa Himm felt better. He is somewhat noble as he had also released the murderers from the pain of guilt for killing someone and made them feel better. I feel that Sokreaksa Himm has chosen the correct path instead of avenging his parent's death, forgiving the murderers instead of punishing them for what they did. This story also taught me that there are many different ways in solving a problem, each ways are unique. I feel that Sokreaksa Himm had the courage to forgive the people which was impossible to me. Vengeance was always the path i sought to solve problems. I feel that Sokreaksa Himm had set a perfect example for all the people to learn. He had the heart to forgive and forget. I believe that people should always forgive others. If not, they would be such a thing like enemies. People who always fight with each other would never solve their problems as their misunderstanding grows deeper and their relations worsen by the day. Vengeance would not solve the problems, it would only make more enemies for you. Once one have learnt to forgive others would the problems between enemies solve. People should be given a chance for whatever wrong that they might have done. It is sad to hear that people were commanded by their superiors into doing things that would make themselves feel guilty for live and feel that they were wrong.

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END
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