By Lawrence W. Reed, President of Foundation for Economic Education
For Freedom’s Sake is announcing our first in what we hope to be an inspiring series of articles and posts on the men and women who heralded the ideas of liberty and/or survived tyranny and lived to tell their stories for which we may be forewarned and avoid the same dangerous paths.
We are honored to feature Dr. Haing Ngor’s story, in an article, “A Man Who Knew the Value of Liberty,” written by Dr. Lawrence W. Reed, President of the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) in our ignauqual post. We want to give a special thanks to Dr. Reed for his kind permission to post this inspiring and moving story.
Here is an excerpt form the story of Dr. Ngor’s life:
Dr. Ngor’s Oscar-winning performance in The Killing Fields gave him a platform to tell the world about the mass murder that occurred between 1975 and 1979 in Cambodia at the hands of the Khmer Rouge communists. When I met Ngor at a conference in Dallas a few months after Oscar night, I was struck by the intensity of his passion. Perhaps no one loves liberty more than one who has been denied it at the point of a gun. We became instant friends and stayed in frequent contact. When he decided to visit Cambodia in August 1989 for the first time since his escape ten years before, he asked me to go with him. Dith Pran, the photographer Ngor portrayed in the movie, was among the small number in our entourage. Experiencing Cambodia with Ngor and Pran so soon after the genocide left me with vivid impressions and lasting memories.
I hope you, like me, are inspired to do more to protect the freedom’s and liberty that we have enjoyed for more than 200 years. As we slip closer and closer to socialism we must follow the example of Dr. Ngor’s life as summarized by Dr. Reed,
“For Haing Ngor, rediscovering his freedom after experiencing hell on earth wasn’t enough. He couldn’t relax, breathe sighs of relief, or resume living a quiet or anonymous life. He felt compelled to tell his story so others would know what awful things total government can do. He forced us to ponder and appreciate life more fundamentally than ever before.” (Click here to download and read the full-story)
