His Story to Me.

[SOteric]

He is 26 years old and he speaks very softly. He is a short brown man. He shaves his head. One of his ears is not shaped the same as the other as if a notch had been cut in it. He was born in Thailand. His parents were refugees there. They were farmers in Cambodia until La Khmer Rouge came to their farm. They killed and ate his brother's dog in front of the boy, they killed and ate the family's cow. They were told to leave the farm and if they refused they would be killed. They left with the clothes on their back. They made a daring journey through the country, avoiding soldiers and thousands of land mines, with no food and two children. Many people were slaughtered there, children killed their own parents, and carried AK-47s on their shoulders. But his family stuck together and made it somehow to Thailand and later with the help of sponsors, to America. He said his parents lectured him often about how fortunate he was to have shoes and clothing and food. He shook his head in disbelief when he said "Did you know that people bowl with turkeys?" having seen the crazy stunt on television. "We would never play with our food."

He speaks so softly I have to watch his lips to hear his words. His phone rings, "I'm coming, I'll be right there," he says impatiently. It is Evelyn, she has his lunch ready. He always shares lunch with Evelyn and Dot. He looks at me and I feel he is searching for a way to part after revealing himself to me. "They love you!" I say of Evelyn and Dot, "Thanks for the history lesson," I tell him, "Go eat your lunch." And he walks off. He is a man who works for my father.

Each of us is a universe unto ourselves.

[Redstone]

1. That's very touching, and very well written.

Redstone

[SOteric]

2. And dropping like a 4 ton anchor, -

but thanks for the feedback. It's nice to know it wasn't completely overlooked. :hi:

[Maddy McCall]

3. .

:thumbsup:

[Lars39]

4. "Every grain is precious"

from a college acquaintance, shaking her head at the waste of food in the cafeteria.

[SOteric]

9. I can certainly relate.

I had opportunities to travel immediately after college. Many places in the world are not brimming over with the bounty of pizza, beer and potato chips that is the hallmark of the American diet.

I used to think people in 3rd world countries insane to believe all Americans were rich and pampered, but comparatively, most of us truly are.

[patdem]

5. History indeed...I read it several times to get the real feeling of the

story...and it is a very human story. Bowling with turkeys..how decadent is that? It did bring tears to my eyes.

[SOteric]

10. .

:hug:

[madfloridian]

6. The Killing Fields....did you see that movie?

I taught a young Cambodian girl who escaped with her family, hiding in the jungle, eating rats or whatever they could find, breathing through a reed hiding underwater. Her mother talked to our class, translated by her 2nd grade daugher. We all had tears.

Here is the link to the Wikipedia site about the Killing Fields.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Killing_Fields

Here is a link to the 1984 movie. It was so hard to watch.
http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/movies.php?id=939

[file83]

17. It's so sad. It's amazes and humbles me hearing stories like this...

...I sometimes wonder if I would have what it takes to survive something like that, but I'm thankful I haven't had to find out.

[Call Me Wesley]

7. Very nice and true.

I wish for the days the individual universes not only can live together but merge their experiences for all of us to see. What a consciousness this would be.

Thank you for sharing.

[SOteric]

11. Oh ~that~ would be wonderful. -

And here I was thinking it was too much to hope for that we could all just evolve to treat one another with civility.

[Call Me Wesley]

13. Hope never can be too much,

but this is a long road we still have to travel. Unfortunately. Evolving will take some time, still.

[mdmc]

8. very nice. peace and low stress to you and yours

peace

[SOteric]

14. and to you and yours as well.

:hi:

[johnnie]

12. Thanks for the story

Sometimes I forget how good I have it. I was born into a privilege that goes well beyond monetary.

[SOteric]

15. It's pretty easy to lose sight of that kind of thing.

I think most of us do it with regularity.

:) Like you, I was born to a priviledge beyond the monetary. I count my blessings almost daily to have such wonderful friends and family.

[Neil Lisst]

16. The obsession with gluttonous eating and such is a real pet peeve

... of mine.

I will not watch any show on tv that involves people gorging themselves in competition. Talk about shades of Rome. Where's the vomitorium?

Disgusting for such spectacles to occur, muchless be shown on TV and applauded.

[KitchenWitch]

18. A beautiful and yet tragic story

thank you for sharing that with us.

[Heidi]

19. Thank you, SOteric.

That's one of the most compassionate and insightful posts I've read in DU in a long while. Thank you. :thumbsup:

[SOteric]

21. Thank you for the kind words.

:hi:

:pals:

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

20. kick, with thanks

Beautifully written, and a valuable reminder that people you might not look at twice have often lived the most remarkable lives.

[Cerridwen]

22. just...just...kick.....n/t