PrintMay 21, 2004
Image of a promise not kept
The mind will seize an image, often powerless to shed it. Music, poetry, a scent, a taste or a feeling will all linger. But an image can be unsurpassed in its power to freeze and distill an experience, an event or even the struggles of an era.
A newspaper clipping of an Associated Press story from April of 1998 thrust an image into my mind that has become unshakeable. It shows a heap of debris that is just starting to burn. A man to the left is carrying a log to add to the pile of fuel. Another, in the background and just in the frame to the right, is staring off into the distance, seemingly uninterested in the activity nearby. Sticks, old tires and scrap pieces of lumber are loosely piled around, on top and even under a wooden box. An upside—down chair teeters precariously on top of the end, facing the witness.
The scene is in a clearing in the jungles of Cambodia. The image punctuates the history of Southeast Asia, and closes a chapter in a long and tragic tale of...(Read Full Article)
