THEIR EYES WERE WIDE OPEN

I just returned home after a few days in Washington, D.C. with Women of Vision–the women’s activistic arm of World Vision–the largest NGO (non-governmental organization) besides the Red Cross  providing global relief.

I was particularly struck one night when we gathered to hear Theary Seng’s story.  As a child she was orphaned by the brutal Khmer Rouge, whose genocidal persecution of Cambodia in the 1970’s was captured in the 1984 movie, The Killing Fields. 

 I distinctly remember the impact that film had on my life.  I didn’t want to see it.  I knew the violence would sicken me.  At one point I wanted to walk out of the theatre or at least close my eyes.   But I forced myself to sit there with eyes and emotions wide open.  I was strongly convicted that the least I could do was to be an intentional witness to the incredible suffering of that land.  It was a small attempt to honor their incredible losses.  And so, for a few minutes, I bore witness to their lives and deaths and have carried the knowledge of their suffering through the years.  It was a first step into social consciousness.  I was in my early 30’s.  I have been an intentional witness to the world’s suffering ever since.

Theary Seng’s story has a long arc.  Today it is a story of hope over adversity.  She fled to the United States where she studied law.  She currently heads the Center for Social Development and resides in Cambodia promoting human rights.

As her story unfolded, images projected on the wide-screen provided glimpses into mass graves, starving children and cities turned into ghost towns by the Khmer Rouge.  Most disturbing to me was realizing that the men on trial at the international tribunal, the ones who had master-minded the killing fields, were all old men.  They had managed to survive into their 80’s without experiencing the justice they and the Cambodian people deserved.  Their accusers were old now, though they had been young children at the time the crimes of the Khmer Rouge were committed against them.  Would they ever see justice?

I glanced at the women in the room.  How were they taking this?  Most of us were greatly impacted by the Viet Nam war.  Maybe some of those women, too, had lost someone they loved in the killing fields. . . a brother, a fiance, a friend.

What I saw made me proud to be in that group.  There was a distinct lean towards the screen.  It struck me that each woman’s eyes were wide-open as if to take in every detail of inhumanity, injustice and pain.  

They didn’t flinch or turn away.  They bore witness to the lives of Cambodia’s children, now grown, but still waiting for their justice. 

It seems the least we can do as we journey through a world that is grossly evil and injust at times.  Frustratingly, sometimes it is also the only thing we can do. . . to witness human suffering with our eyes and hearts wide open, believing that, in the end, a good God will have the final and just word.