Explanation:
Death. Watching hundreds of people die every day takes a hefty toll on the human soul. Living a life where famine was widespread and collapsing from fatigue meant certain death. Not because fatigue itself caused death, but people were shot on sight for collapsing on the ground. But a small boy, only twelve years old at that time, was one of the lucky ones that lived to tell the tale. Arn Chorn-Pond, born in 1966, was only a child when the Khmer Rouge, a radical group of communists who believed that only an agricultural lifestyle would remove all corruption in Cambodia, came into power. They fulfilled their belief by executing all teachers, doctors, musicians, and almost every educated adult living in Cambodia, eventually slaughtering about 1.5 to 1.7 million people. Arn Chorn-Pond was forced to work in the fields for tireless hours for several months until the Vietnamese invaded Cambodia, causing Pond to become a child soldier. Eventually he escaped Cambodia and traveled to the United States of America with his adoptive father, Peter L. Pond. When Pond attended school in Cambodia his classmates teased him for his skin color and ethnicity. Eventually his adoptive father requested that he reveal his story to the outside world so that everyone could learn about the inhumane acts of the Khmer Rouge. From that day on Arn Chorn-Pond began to give speeches about the suffering in Cambodia and continues to inspire people throughout the world. Arn Chorn-Pond founded several organizations including the Cambodian Living Arts, an organization dedicated to restoring the classical music of Cambodia, and he cofounded Children of War, an organization that helps young children affected by the byproducts of war. Arn Chorn-Pond throughout his childhood saved several other children from starvation, and even saved the life of an adult named Yoeun Mek, who later taught Pond how to play the flute. Pond was one of a couple children selected to entertain the Khmer Rouge with music. However, more than half of those children were executed for showing inadequate knowledge of the various Cambodian instruments. This knowledge of a musical instrument is the sole factor that prevented Pond from execution by the Khmer Rouge, and eventually led to a love of the musical arts. Arn Chorn-Pond is praiseworthy hero because of his selflessness towards others, his great passion for the musical arts, and his ability to admit his past mistakes and faults.
