Life Made Simpler With Technology

Day 532 – I started reading things for my country report about Cambodia and I found a website recommending a few books that are a must if dealing with this country. I found the books on Amazon and as I always do, I started reading them to decide if I really want to make the purchase. We are not allowed to use internet but have to use real books. The idea is so we won’t just cut and paste, but also to encourage us to go to libraries and read the source and not just have summaries made by others, often from unknown sources. But I have two problems, I chose a country that not too much is written about it, except the Khmer Rouge era of course. And even less material is available here in my homeland and to buy and ask for shipment is expensive and it probably won’t arrive on time. So thanks to all the new inventions, something I like to complain about every so often, I can search on line to find the book – on amazon’s website and then I can order the kindle version, even though I don’t own a kindle but I downloaded the PC version of it a while back, so I was set to go. Instead of waiting now 3-6 weeks for the physical book to arrive and paying $almost $20 just in shipment fees, I had it on my computer in a matter of seconds. And for the past hour I was sitting and reading in rapt attention the story of Loung Ung called “First They Kill My Father”. A book considered one of the strongest testimonies of the Khmer Rouge Era. I am still in the days before the invasion of Phnom Penh but I can already tell she is writing very well. I know it is going to be a difficult book, but it is a story I have to know, we all do, and so I am taking the first step of leaving the blissful peace of ignorance regarding this horrible chapter in the history of Cambodia and the history of mankind. Sadly, the 20^th century had a few of those atrocities, devastating the lives of millions of innocent people.

 

I am thankful for progress and technology that enable me to get the book I wanted in a timely manner. I am thankful I did not have to wait for so long. I am thankful I have found this book that as difficult as it is, I think it is necessary for me to read it. I am thankful I never got to experience any such thing; I came from a family devastated by the holocaust I sure know what it means, at least second hand. I am thankful I am going to sleep now, it’s about an hour too late, but I will make up the time in the morning getting up a little later than normal.