cambodia holds a very sacred place in my heart.  this country is recovering from a bloody history, but the people are brimming with love and appreciation for all life.  walking through the killing fields in phnom penh made my heart swell up and muddled my thoughts for weeks.  i couldn't believe the methods of the khmer rouge or how things got as far as they did or human slaughter period.  what's crazy is that i'd never heard of pol pot or the genocide in cambodia until i was flying into the very country where it happened.  and this was no more than forty years ago.  it's important to be aware of what's going on globally now and in the past.  i'm making large efforts to stay involved and to dedicate time to reading up on history and events i should just plain know about.  i believe in getting an education and i'm in school right now to get mine.  but there are things you learn when you step into the boundaries of another country that no text book or professor can tell.  you internalize what you see without even meaning to, and as a citizen of the world you look at global issues through more understanding, unbiased eyes.  get a backpack, take a semester off and use the money to go somewhere.  eat some crazy food and see some interesting things.  dig some interesting people and immerse yourself in a new culture.  it's worth it because it'll change you.  it really, really changed me.  

read survival in the killing fields by haing ngor.  it's not a happy read, but i think it's a good one.