Walking Through The Killing Fields To My Future
explanatory Essay
849 words
I come from an impoverished family that escaped to America during the Vietnam War with hopes that their children would perhaps live a better life than they did. My grandparents sacrificed everything that they had owned and invested all of their life savings into a boat that would remove them from the world of misery; this led them to come to America in search of a better life.
It was during the Vietnam war, the citizens of Vietnam were hungry, poor, and scared for their lives. Every hour, my grandma said, there were explosives that was in the 10 meter radius from her house. She could only imagine the deaths of her friends and family that lived within the attacks. My grandparents had 11 kids at the time of the Vietnam war, with little money and resources, they decided that they could not live in Vietnam anymore. On May 10th, my grandparents decided to escape the misery and deaths in Vietnam and perhaps find another country that would take them in and care for them, so they packed all their belongings and went down south. After walking thousands and thousands of miles, my grandmother settle in the country of Cambodia. There she felt as if her whole family was safe and no one could harm them anymore than the brutal war in Vietnam. Little did she know, her family was at risk at a whole new level.
In 1953 Cambodia gained its independence from France and as the Vietnam War progressed, Cambodia’s elected Prime Minister Norodom Sihanouk adopted an official policy of neutrality between Vietnam and the United States mainly because they did not want to get involved into any political arguments. However,Sihanouk was ousted in 1970 by a military coup led by his own Cambodian General Lon Nol. Working to the Khmer Rouge, a guerrilla movement,...
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... of life,” and to do whatever I wanted, as long as I was passionate about it. This conundrum opened my eyes to another idealistic view of the world. My parents’ preoccupation to support me evolved into the desire to succeed as an individual. Because I saw the hardships my parents went through, I want to be able to help them have a better life and in a sense, repay them for what they have given me.
Works Cited
Stoett, Peter J. "This Age of Genocide: Conceptual and Institutional Implications." International Journal. Summer 1995: 594-618. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 24 Apr. 2014.
Totten, Samuel. "The Scourge of Genocide: Issues Facing Humanity Today and Tomorrow." Social Education Vol. 62 No. 2. March 1999: 116-121. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 24 Apr. 2014.
McMahan, Jeff. "Moral Wounds." Boston Review. Nov/Dec 2013: 18. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 24 Apr. 2014.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that they come from an impoverished family that escaped to america during the vietnam war with hopes that their children would perhaps live a better life than they did.
- Narrates how their grandparents decided to escape the misery and deaths in vietnam and find another country that would take them in and care for them.
- Describes how cambodia's elected prime minister norodom sihanouk adopted an official policy of neutrality between vietnam and the united states, but was ousted in 1970 by a military coup led by his own cambodian general lon nol.
- Narrates how their grandma was able to rent a house in the village where refugees from the vietnam war escaped settled, which led her to become fluent in cambodian.
- Explains that vietnam began to stabilize and work as a country after the devastation of the war. the aftermath led the vietnamese government in rehabilitating every broken building or ruins from the bombing.
- Describes how their parents' preoccupation to support them evolved into the desire to succeed as an individual.
- Cites stoett, peter j. and totten, samuel. the scourge of genocide: issues facing humanity today and tomorrow.
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