A Healing Fire

Reflection- A Healing Fire


Act II, Sc. III

O God, that men should put an enemy in their mouths to steal away their brains!
- Othello

Through the centuries, most revenge tragedies share some basic elements: a play within a play, mad scenes, a vengeful ghost, one or several gory scenes, and, most importantly, a central character who has a serious grievance against a formidable opponent. However, ‘A Healing Fire’- a supposedly revenge tragedy from the beginning does not end quite like the blood, insanity or neither persecution we expected. It is a twist from the perceptible aftermath of vengeance and revenge with the aid of the mightiest sword of forgiveness. This article tells the heart rending story of Sokreaksa Himm, whose hapless encounter with the then Khmer Rouge rendered most of his family members dead. Brutally dead. Perhaps it is god’s will that he survived the ordeal. As he watched helplessly the emaciated bodies of his kin, he made a burning vow of vengeance.
I would say the raging desire to avenge his beloved family has put him into a good stead of life, because of this pure hatred; it motivated him to start a new life all over again, eventually joining the police force. However, he was soon struggling with his inner self; he could not bring himself to kill his enemies even if opportunities present themselves. Well, this was the pivotal point, his struggle does not deem his incapability but it highlighted that he has a sane mind, a mind that weighed the consequences of revenge and what exactly does revenge helps to lift the trauma out of those damned recesses. He devoted himself into a series of Christian meetings in camps, relieving himself of the suppression, denial that once filled his life.


Like what Mahatma Gandhi said before, ‘The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.’ He was a man of strength; no many man of today could endure the massacre of one’s family and live to retell the harrowing tale and embarked on an intrepid journey of forgiveness. Furthermore, he willed himself to approach the Khmer Rouge who had killed his family in order to help the Cambodians there to overcome the emotional scars inflicted by the period of bedlam caused by the Khmer Rouge. Instead of seizing the chance for revenge, he has devoted himself as a doctor to heal the wound in the souls. In addition, he eventually managed to confront the killers’ and to tell them that he has forgiven them and had came to relieve them of their current sufferings. ‘Cleansing the wound is necessary for the healing processes All in all, he was not just a man of strength, and he is a believer of himself, the undying love in humankind and also the power of forgiveness. He did not welcome his succumb to despair, he strived hard to sought a new life and conquer the monsters in his life to allow him a chance, a new chance to lead his life more meaningfully not just full of hatred but of love and forgiveness. Furthermore, it all depends on our will to break away from the cycle of vengeance or we will just be the pawns of fate continuing a cycle of vengeance that would carry on for generations and generations. It is never ending and it is exhausting. Humans are born to love one another, so hating is an unnatural process and it kills our brain cells.


In conclusion, it is not just enough to read these poignant tales of heroes and heroines from reader digest. I cannot help but to admit Singaporeans do not really understand what is it to forgive and forget, and how overwhelming wonders forgiveness does to their souls. Thus, youths of Singapore shall create the opportunities for themselves by exposing themselves to the different facets of life by our fellow men in order to fully appreciate the bed of roses we are sleeping on now, the silver spoon that seemed forever in our mouths. Besides, a little bit of thorns does not hurt at all.

‘Hamlet stabs Claudius and forces him to drink the poisoned wine. The revenge plot is thus concluded. Hamlet himself then dies from the wound received during the fight with Laertes ‘

And last but not least, nobody love sad endings.

Teehee , Tan Sally(23)