Death, and more Death. Sorry for the Downer

 

We've all heard of The Holocaust - the genocide of European Jews between 1941 and 1945 by Hitler's Nazis. Six million Jews across German-occupied Europe, around two-thirds of Europe's Jewish population, were systemically murdered. It is considered the single largest genocide in history.

Also, during those years, over another million Russians, Serbs, Romas, Muslims, Croats, Poles, and a variety of other groups were killed. The eighty years since then have seen a long list of other mass killings and "ethnic cleansings".

Most of us have heard of the Rwandan genocide, perhaps only from seeing the movie, "Hotel Rwanda." Over a half-million members of the Tutsi minority ethnic group were slaughtered by armed Hutu militias in only one hundred days in 1994. That was within most of our lifetimes.

I had never even heard of the Darfur genocide until my daughter did a paper on it for school. Considered the first genocide of the 21st century, this event saw around 200,000 people killed between 2003 and 2005.

I also just learned about the Civil War in Myanmar, which began in 2017. Called the Rohingya genocide, it involves ongoing persecution and killings of the Muslim Rohingya people by the military of Myanmar.  

When I volunteered in Peru for a week in 2009, I was introduced to the Shining Path terrorist group. Beginning in 1980, the Shining Path, led by founder Abimael Guzman, inflicted havoc on the countryside, killing over 24,000 innocent people. Because these acts of violence weren't against any particular group, it's not considered a genocide. But I was horrified hearing first-hand stories from survivors. 

You can look anywhere in the world and witness the senseless death of any population of people. Look at the modern Middle East. Look at the Old Testament books of the Bible, where God commissioned the Israelites to wipe out entire cities.

I bring this all up now, not only because all this violence makes my heart sick, but because I am traveling once again to a country that has experienced more than its share of death.

Between 1975 and 1979, the Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, carried out the systematic persecution, torture, and killing of Cambodian citizens. As many as three million men, women, children, and babies died by horrific means. That was nearly 30% of the total population at the time. You've maybe heard of the "Killing Fields" or seen the movie.

When I'm in Cambodia two weeks from now, besides seeing the spectacular Angkor Wat temple complex, I'll visit the real Killing Fields. Odd how I first learned about the country in 1974, one year before those atrocities began. And so sad.

I'll keep you posted.  

(The first picture above was taken by one of my kid's when they were in Germany at one of the concentration camps. The other two pictures I took at the Museo de la Memoria in Ayacucho, Peru.) 

Quickie Post of Alma

Last week, I finished finally telling you about the nine-day trip Hubby and I took to the Dakotas in June. The middle of July, I spent two nights in Alma, Wisconsin, with a friend. And even though I took over three hundred pictures in that short period of time, I am going to keep pictures from that trip to just this one post.        

Main Street, Alma. So many cool, historic buildings. 

Inside our AirBnb

The railroad tracks through town, the Mississippi River Lock on the right. And way over on the left you can see our AirBnb with the red second story and my blue car out front. 

Merrick State Park, where an entire section of the campground had flooded recently. So sad. 

Kinstone Sculpture Park, which I had visited the year before,  

so as much as I would like to share all those pictures again, 

I'll just share these few. Still a fascinating place to me. 

Next Prairie Moon Gardens and 

the only selfie I took of my friend and me. 

View from on the bluffs at Buena Vista Park, overlooking Alma. 

So many beautiful old homes in that little town. 

Just down the road is Pepin 

And next is Stockholm. 

Hope you can read the sentiment someone painted on their house and posted on their railing below. 

    I did pretty good keeping this short, didn’t I? 

Take Heart and Start Climbing

 

“The door to heaven is narrow. Try hard to enter it. Many people will want to enter there, but they will not be able to go in.” (Luke 13:24, Easy-to-Read Version)

This past week, Hubby and I took a drive up to Michigan’s UP for a quick visit. We stopped along Lake Superior at my favorite little roadside park before heading back home.

I climbed up these stairs, fearful that I would fall. I made it and the view was worth it, even though it was the same view that I’ve seen countless times throughout my life.

This time the words “climbing the stairway to heaven” popped into my head. I think a lot of people believe, once you turn your life over to God and accept Jesus as your Savior, that getting to heaven is a piece of cake. Maybe not even as hard as climbing an even staircase, with a secure handrail; maybe you think you’ll ride an escalator to heaven.

More likely, the stairs you need to take to get to heaven look like these. Not only is the door to heaven narrow, but the stairs can be precarious. But start climbing, for Jesus said, “here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

Never Give Up On Your Dreams

 In the Fall of 1973, I entered sixth grade. My teacher was new to our school, fresh out of college. I was in a smaller classroom with fewer students—twenty of us. Our entire class was one of the largest ever for our town, so we were spread through five classrooms on the third floor of Washington School, with more of us attending the Catholic parochial school.

I’ve forgotten when that school year it happened or why, but one day, our teacher told us about an ancient Buddhist temple in Cambodia, Angkor Wat. I saw a picture of it; I don’t remember if it was in a textbook or projected on a screen. I was fascinated and enthralled. I vowed I would someday, somehow, go there.

Flash forward fifty years. Holy cow, fifty years!?!

And here we are. Three weeks from now (as I post this), I will be in that plane for a fifteen-hour flight over the United States and the Pacific Ocean, God willing. This is the fourth time my friend and I have scheduled this trip since just weeks before COVID-19 descended on us.

I would appreciate it if you would keep me and this trip in your prayers. And never give up on your dreams.

This picture is of Angkor Wat. I borrowed it off of the internet. 
The other picture is me and my classmates that fated year. 
It looks like most of us were only dreaming of a better hair day or at least less hideous clothes. 

Earth and Sky – Dakota Vacation blog post #22

 Earth and Sky – an appropriate ending to our trip to the Dakotas in June. Yes, this is the final post. Aren’t you relieved?

At a rest stop off of I-90 outside of Chamberlain, South Dakota, we took in our last tourist attraction of the trip.

This sculpture, named Dignity of Earth and Sky, sits on a bluff overlooking the Missouri River. The 50-foot-high stainless-steel statue shows a woman in native dress holding a star quilt. She honors the culture of the Lakota and Dakota peoples who are indigenous to South Dakota.

Also, at this rest area are displays of various Native American artifacts and items telling the story of the western expansion.  

 There are even some friends for the kids to meet.

All in all, it was a very good trip. I’m so thankful that my wonderful husband agreed to it, that he did most of the driving, and that he made me laugh every day, even when the ride was long and my body was aching. Himey, you are my soul mate, and without you, I don’t know how I’d get through the day. 

Stinky Alley Art – Dakota Vacation blog post #21

“There are those who are pure in their own eyes and yet are not cleansed of their filth. (Proverbs 30:11, New International Version) 

While planning our trip to the Dakotas in June, I ran across a place in Rapid City called Art Alley. 

Artists – or probably anybody with a spray can – can put their mark on the brick walls, wooden stairs, and any other surface along this alley between Main Street and St Joseph Street.

Some of the art looked pretty nice. Other? Not so much. But if people are encouraged to express themselves here, it’s no one’s place to judge.

The thing I noticed, though, was that no amount of spray paint could cover up the stench emanating from all the dumpsters.

Kinda reminded me of people who put on airs, dress nice, and show off their money, but inside, they are not very pretty. I think we all need to clean up our insides and get rid of the sin in our lives before we bother with our appearance.

Blandlands – Dakota Vacation blog post #20

I totally get why they named this area of South Dakota the Badlands.

But even this herd of bison was bored.   

Maybe they should have called it the Boredlands. 

Or at least the Blandlands. 

But seriously, since I took over a hundred pictures as we drove through, I must have found something exciting here.

Or I was really just hoping to capture something more interesting than domesticated cattle. 

But it’s still possible to find beauty out of what appears to be nothing. And maybe I was just done with vacation by then.   

Journey – Dakota Vacation blog post #19

 Finally – our last full day in Rapid City, South Dakota, back in June! Appropriately enough to finish that part of our journey, we visited the Journey Museum. 

As we entered the museum, we were met with the night sky, perhaps the first view of the South Dakota area, before there was solid ground, but there was a “Wheel in the Sky” and a thousand stars. 

Just around the corner, we were meant with famous prehistoric creatures which first roamed the area. The dinosaurs. “Don’t Stop Believing” that they really existed. 

The topography of the Black Hills was just getting started. Those fascinating rock formations we saw along the Needles Highway? A place to find a “Stone in Love”, several million years ago.

Next, we learned about the earliest people in the Black Hills, the Clovis. 12,000 years ago, they hunted ancient mammoths and created rock art “Any Way You Want It” or they wanted it. 

The Lakota people, part of the Sioux Nation, ruled the Black Hills starting in the 18th century. The Journey Museum is home to the Sioux Indian Collection and proof that “Still They Ride”. 

From the Custer Expedition of 1874 to the Battle of Little Bighorn, the exhibits chronicle the western expansion of the 19th century. Some of those events were good, but others left us asking “Who’s Crying Now”? 

In 1972, the Black Hills Flood tragically took 238 lives. It was a lot to recover from, but all the survivors were met with “Open Arms”. 

Sorry that this is so dumb. But this “Girl Can’t Help It” that this was so easy.