Phnom Penh

We've made it to the massive capitol of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, for a bit before we head to the mountains... We didn't plan on spending too much time in Phnom Penh but while here we visited 2 must-see sites: the killing fields and the S-21 prison... it was a long and difficult day going back through such horrifying history but its 100% necessary in understanding Cambodian culture and people. 

 skulls of some of the hundreds burried in mass graves at the killing fields

Even though I've studied and read plenty about the genocide that occurred by the hand of the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s, its one of those topics that's never easy to learn more about. While at the killing fields I found myself struggling with similar questions as I did when I studied the Khmer Rouge in my human rights classes at UGA.  If I believe that human beings are innately good (which I do) and that we all have the potential for immense greatness, than the reverse of that must follow true as well.  Thus, you could argue, in that line of thinking that means I have to also believe that we all are capable of immense evil and harm.  But no matter how you look at the atrocious human rights violations and just the general indecencies committed by one human being on another during Pol Pot's regime, its hard to imagine, justify or understand how someone could be capable of such things.  Without a doubt sobering places, the killing fields and S-21 prison are both unforgettable reminders of the polarizing and often unbelievable possibilities of human kind.

 prison holding cell in S-21, famous torture center where anyone from farmers to intellectuals were sent without explanation to be "reeducated" by the khmer rouge