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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 five 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 find 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 first 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 SLENG’S 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 flawed justice, how is peace even possible after genocide?

My mom, Cam Youk LimJune 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 HAVEN’T 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

find 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!