In the country of Cambodia, from 1975 to 1979, an estimated 2.5 million people died. Some of them from disease, some of from starvation, and others brutally murdered by the Khmer Rouge regime. Overtime, these mass graves have come to be known as the Killing Fields.
To most people, the victims of the events surrounding the Killing Fields are just nameless faces in documentaries and collected stories. To me, these victims had dreams and hopes beyond their short lives. They had names and families. They had struggles and hardships. They had lives I can relate to because I have walked where they walked. My name is Lang Tang and I am a survivor of the Killing Fields.
If I’m writing this only for a history lesson, then so be it. But perhaps, just maybe, there is a greater purpose in this story. It may find someone who is confined in bondage. It may cross paths with a lonely person on their last thread of hope. It may reach someone who is about to give up. And at that moment, they too might realize they must Hold Fast.
Hold Fast to their dreams. Hold Fast to their survival. Hold Fast to life like they never have before.
To most people, the victims of the events surrounding the Killing Fields are just nameless faces in documentaries and collected stories. To me, these victims had dreams and hopes beyond their short lives. They had names and families. They had struggles and hardships. They had lives I can relate to because I have walked where they walked. My name is Lang Tang and I am a survivor of the Killing Fields.
If I’m writing this only for a history lesson, then so be it. But perhaps, just maybe, there is a greater purpose in this story. It may find someone who is confined in bondage. It may cross paths with a lonely person on their last thread of hope. It may reach someone who is about to give up. And at that moment, they too might realize they must Hold Fast.
Hold Fast to their dreams. Hold Fast to their survival. Hold Fast to life like they never have before.
