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Two years ago, I had the pleasure of giving a talk in

Long Beach about my family!s escape from the
Khmer Rouge and the Killing Fields of Cambodia. It
was really the story of my mom!s cunning and
determination to her ve children, including myself.
The great thing about that talk was that my mom was
actually there.
MY WIFE, 8 MONTHS PREGNANT
MOM
BILL
GATES
She took a bow and received a standing ovation from
the audience, which included my wife who was 8-
months pregnant at the time and some distinguished
guests. I suspected then that it might be my last long
trip with her as she was getting on with age. Little did
I know how right I was because only seven months
later
she passed away unexpectedly. Her death got me
thinking about the legacy she left behind. She lost
her husband, my father, to the Khmer Rouge and her
oldest son, my brother. She had suffered so much
during the Cambodian genocide, yet she could nd
peace and resilience. So the question I!d like to try to
answer today is
HOW IS PEACE POSSIBLE AFTER
GENOCIDE?
how is peace possible after genocide?
Although we keep saying never again, it keeps
happening over and over again.
HOLOCAUST: 11-17 MILLION
But starting with World War II, the Holocaust claimed
11-17 million lives.
Not just of Jewish people
but Roma and Homosexuals.
RWANDA: 800,000-1,000,000
In Rwanda, 800,000 to 1 million Tutsis died
and still suffer.
BOSNIA: 200,000+
In Bosnia, the rst genocide in Europe since WWII
claimed 200,000+ lives.
In Srebrenica, 8,000 boys and men were
slaughtered.
DARFUR: 300,000+
And most recently in Darfur, 300,000+
have had their lives extinguished
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Once upon a time ... there was a regime so evil that it created an
antisociety where torture was currency and music, books, and
love were abolished. This regime ruled for four years and
murdered nearly 2 million of its citizens, a quarter of the
population.
CAMBODIA
Michael Paterniti (2009)
But today, I!d like to focus in on Cambodia. Once upon a
time ... there was a regime so evil that it created an
antisociety where torture was currency and music, books,
and love were abolished. This regime ruled for four years
and murdered nearly 2 million of its citizens, a quarter of
the population. But two million is hard to grasp, a million
here, a million there. Let me instead try to bring it down a
notch.
Up to 16,000
Tuol Sleng was a former school turned torture center
where up to 16,000 people died.
In classrooms like these.
On beds like these.
Using medieval chains
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Mothers with infant children. Do you see the small
arm on the picture to the left?
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Children
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Teenagers
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Young adults and the elderly
all had their lives stilled.
TUOL SLENGS DIRECTOR, DUCH, CONFESSED
AT KHMER ROUGE TRIBUNAL IN CAMBODIA, 2009.
The Director of Tuol Sleng was a man by the name
of Duch. He actually confessed in 2009 at the Khmer
Rouge Tribunal taking place in Cambodia.
VERDICT: GUILTY
DEATHS: 12,273+
SENTENCE: 35 YEARS
(REDUCED TO 19 FOR
TIME ALREADY SERVED)
APPEALING.
Last year, he was found guilty in the deaths of at
least 12,273 people and sentenced to 35 years,
reduced to 19 for time already served. He could
actually walk out alive. Surprisingly, he!s appealing.
MADOFF: 150 YEARS
KILLED: 0; $65 BILLION FRAUD
NOT APPEALING.
Now you contrast this imperfect justice in Cambodia
to that of Bernie Madoff who got 150 years, killed no-
one per se, but did cause a $65 billion fraud. He!s
not appealing.
SO HOW IS PEACE EVEN POSSIBLE
AFTER GENOCIDE?
Given such awed justice, how is peace even
possible after genocide?
My mom, Cam Youk Lim
June 1936-October 2009
For one possible answer, I!d like to turn to my mom!s
wisdom. She was Buddhist and believed that
what goes around comes around
and that the people responsible for our family!s
suffering
people such as the leaders of the Khmer Rouge
photographed here riding on train
would eventually meet their fates
and that Karmic Justice would catch-up to them if not
in this lifetime then in the next
when they would be reborn as cockroaches
in their next life. In a way, she was able to forgive
the fact that justice would not be rendered in her
lifetime. She had already passed away by the time
Duch!s verdict came out, but it wouldn!t have
mattered to her anyway.
Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery - Universal Loving Kindness (2006)

IF WE HAVENT FORGIVEN, WE KEEP

CREATING AN IDENTITY AROUND OUR
PAIN, AND THAT IS WHAT IS REBORN.
THAT IS WHAT SUFFERS.
In Buddhism, if we haven!t forgiven, we keep
creating an identity around our pain, and that is what
is reborn. That is what suffers.
And I would argue that 14 million Cambodians today
are able to go on with their lives
nd peace
and resilience
because they believe in Karmic Justice
and are able to forgive and transcend. Forgiveness
and Karmic Justice are ideas worth spreading. So let
me end my talk where I started, with my mom!s story
of saving my life and my four siblings! lives.
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The Talmud says that whoever saves one life saves
the world entire. The Chinese have another proverb,
if you save a life, you become responsible for that
life.
Me and Mom, safe in Vietnam, circa 1976
In my Eulogy to my mom, I said that she was
responsible, in the original sense of the word, for my
life, my four siblings! lives, and the lives of my 13
nieces and nephews, her grandchildren
Steven Ear, born March 2009
and for my son!s life, who was born in March 2009
and with whom she got to spend six months.
My daughter arrives later this March
and for my daughter!s life, who will arrive later this
month. Wherever you are mom, thank you for
helping me bring new hope into the world!