Kindness Diaries (2017–2019): Season 1, Episode 11 - The Gift of Sight - full transcript

Are you wondering how healthy the food you are eating is? Check it - foodval.com
---
[Leon Logothetis] From a
distance, the world probably
seems

like a big, bad scary place.

If you listen to the news
or even ask the person next to
you,

they will likely talk about war,
poverty, corruption, and hate.

And they are right,
from a distance.

But, I believe that up close,
there is enough good, enough
love,

and enough pure kindness
to make the world go round,

and that is what
inspired my journey.

A journey where random acts
of kindness are repaid

with unexpected and
life-changing gifts.

And, these are The
Kindness Diaries.



It was a beautiful day
in the Cambodian countryside

filled with sunshine
and blue skies.

And, all was going well
until I ran low on fuel.

[Leon] I have no gas.

But-- but the problem
is I have no money.

I don'’t think he
understood that.

Does anyone speak
English? No English?

[Leon] After a
bit of fumbling...

I'’m trying to explain to them
that I have run out of gas.

And, I need gas but
I don'’t have any money.

[Leon] I managed to scrape
together just enough common
language

to get two kind local
residents to take pity on me.

[Leon] Thank you, thank you.

[Leon] A few hours later,
I arrived at my destination.



[Leon] I'’ve arrived in Phnom
Penh, the capital of Cambodia.

I'’ve heard some tragic
stories about this city,

but also how it'’s
risen from the ashes.

[Leon] There were
lots of people around

but I couldn'’t seem to be able
to communicate with anyone.

I speak... cheap, cheap.

-Cheap, cheap?
-So, you don'’t speak English?

-Yeah, no.
-No.

Do you understand?

-No.
-No.

-Yes.
-You don't speak English?

-Yes.
-You do?

-No.
-No?

No. Yes.

[Leon] I can'’t tell you why I
suddenly started speaking
Spanish to a Cambodian.

¿No comprende? No comprende?

[Leon] But I can tell you
I was getting desperate.

Luckily, I was rescued by a
young woman named Kathryn

whose English was perfect.

-Are you American?
-No.

I was born and raised
here, actually.

You were born and raised here
but you speak with an American
accent?

-I know.
-How on earth did that happen?

[Leon] She offered
to buy me lunch.

I can'’t believe it, it's like
home. I feel like I'’m at home.

You can see know that Phnom Penh
is not the same old place
anymore.

We are reemerging as
a different place.

I would love to see
the new Cambodia.

I'’ll tell you what, after lunch,
how about I show you around the
city?

[Leon] And, she took me
on a tour of her city.

[Leon] The city is massive.

Where did you learn how
to speak such good English?

With an American
accent, I might add.

Well, my dad has been speaking
English with me since I was
five,

and I'’ve been watching a lot of
movies, American movies.

Thank you very much.

Whoa! That was great!

[Leon] And, graciously, she
invited me to stay with her
family for the night.

Can I give you a hug?
To thank you for everything
you'’ve done.

You'’re welcome.

[Leon] The next day,
I thanked Kathryn for all her
generosity

before I got back
out on the road.

While the purpose of my trip was
to find human kindness across
the globe,

occasionally my travels would
bring me to a place of such
human darkness

that I felt compelled to stop
and pay my respects.

That day I would
see two such places.

The first was the
Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum,

also known as S21.

In the mid-1970s, the darkest
time in Cambodia'’s history,

this former high
school was converted

into one of the most notorious
prisons of the Khmer Rouge
regime.

[Leon] It's astonishing to think
that people lived in here.

If you can call what they
went through living.

[Leon] It was called
Security Prison 21,

meaning that this was the 21st
prison in a system of 150 such
death camps.

This S21 used to be a school.
I mean look at this.

Basically torture chambers,
and here'’s old writing from a
teacher.

In Cambodian and in French.

[Leon] Unfortunately S21
was not alone in its horror.

Because just six miles away
is a site of such staggering
savagery

that it is nearly impossible to
believe that it could be real.

And this place is known as
"the Killing Fields of Choeung
Ek."

It was here that some
17,000 civilians --

men, women, and children...
were brutally murdered,

many of them after
being imprisoned at S21.

The details of what actually
happened here are beyond
unimaginable.

They grab the baby ankle
like chicken or frog.

And those trees, the killer just
smash the baby head against the
tree.

They threw them high up into the
air and they used the rifle

that they got the bayonet
and they stabbed them.

The ways to enjoy the killing,

they decided to remove the
blindfold from the mother'’s
eyes.

And they forced the mother to
open their eyes and watch the
killing.

[Leon] I met a local man who had
lived through that horrific
time.

I tell you this, I went to
Auschwitz once in Poland.

And, uh, what I experienced
in Auschwitz was truly horrific.

And knowing that millions of
people were killed by Pol Pot

and I'’m standing in a Killing
Field, it'’s a very similar
reaction I'’m having.

One of just horror.

So why, why have they thrown
all these things into the mass
grave?

[man] This is the string
made in Cambodia.

We call a magical rope.

So Cambodian people, when they
use this, they will get good
luck.

When they come to
visit this place,

they have to release this
to the old ancestor

who has been died in this area.

[Leon] I learned my new friend
had not only lived through that
time

but had suffered his own loss.

[man] My cousin got killed
by Pol Pot, Khmer Rogue.

So you had a cousin
that was executed?

Yes, and you know why Pol Pot
kill him? Because he was a
teacher.

One of the smart person.

That'’s why Pol Pot need to kill
all the smart people in my
country.

[Leon] Just because he was
a teacher, he was executed?

[Leon] At the center
of the Killing Fields

now stands a Buddhist stupa
made of stone and glass.

Inside the stupa are
cases filled with artifacts

whose banal appearance belie
what they've come to represent.

Instruments for farming have
become instruments of death.

A pretty purple sweater now
stands as testimonial proof

of a young woman'’s
horrific death.

And finally there
are cases of glass

filled with over
5,000 human skulls,

all representing just a
small fraction of the people

who were brought to the fields
by force, but never left.

I left there shaken to my core.

I didn'’t want the darkness
of these atrocities

to be what defines
us as a species.

So I was more determined than
ever to find kindness and love.

More determined, even if
just in my own little way,

to find the light within us

that will always triumph
over the darkness.

When I arrived in
Ho Chi Minh City the next day,

it was indeed a different world.

Formally Saigon, the city
had come a very long way

since the end of the Vietnam War
about 40 years earlier.

It felt very westernized and
modern, though still thoroughly
Asian.

I am physically and
emotionally shattered.

This trip is really beginning
to take its toll on me.

I just crossed the Cambodian
-Vietnamese border a couple of
hours ago.

And here I am in
Ho Chi Minh City.

Vietnam is becoming one of the
movers and shakers of Southeast
Asia,

but what I need is a nice bed to
sleep in and something to fill
my stomach.

Because there'’s a limit to
how much this man can take.

[Leon] And as I walked back and
forth across the whole of the
city,

I was not having very
much luck at all.

And I really mean none.

At all.

-Food?
-Food?

-No, I have no food.
-No food?

[Leon] And my search for
food got very creative.

If I was a fish,
I'’d eat a cricket.

I mean, I'’m not a fish and
I'’m even considering eating one.

Or ten.

Hold on, I got something!
How do I, how do I bring it up?

How do I...

I don'’t think I'm cut out
to be a fisherman.

[Leon] So much for that.
At least I amused my young
friends.

I was really running
out of options.

I have nowhere to sleep.

-Do you speak English?
-[man] Yeah, I do.

-Where are you from?
-USA.

-Where are you from in America?
-Colorado.

-Is there any way that you can
help me? -How can I help you?

-By giving me a place to stay.
-I don'’t live here.

-You don'’t live here?
-No.

-Where do you live?
-Colorado.

[laughter]

-Yeah, man, but...
-I'’m on holiday.

I don'’t have a place
for you to stay.

Or go to someplace like a hotel
or a hostel and ask them.

[Leon] Well, desperate times
called for desperate measures.

I'’m going to give it
a shot at this hotel.

Thank you.

They opened both
doors when I came in

but only opened one door when I
came out, that should tell you
what happened.

[Leon] You know the saying,
"If at first you don'’t
succeed..."

This is my last hope
and then it'’s Kindness 1 again.

I rely on the kindness
of other people.

So, um, this means you didn'’t
have any reservation with us?

No, I don'’t have a reservation.

And I don'’t have any money.

Is there any way that you could
maybe speak to your manager or
someone?

Hi.

We like to help out as
many people as possible.

Um...

and I find it amazing what
you'’re doing, I really do.

I'’ve never heard of anything
like this. This is
extraordinary.

I'’ll put you up for
tonight, absolutely.

-It will be our pleasure.
-Leon.

[chuckles]

[manager] Included in the room,
all food and beverage is
included for you as well.

All room service,
mini-bar, everything.

Lovely to meet you. It'’s lovely
what you'’re doing as well.

[Leon] I couldn'’t
believe my luck.

A warm bed, a warm
bath and a good meal.

So I decided to take a
moment to say a bit of thanks.

I'’m just writing some letters
to some of the people

that helped me
along this journey.

Every single person who
showed me an act of kindness

has led me to this exact point.

I don'’t think they realized how
their acts of kindness have
helped shift my life.

Every act of kindness has
opened my heart a little bit
more.

Every day I become
a better person.

[Leon] And then it
was time to sleep.

And it would be a very,
very good night's sleep.

My night of luxurious escape
ended with the rising sun.

And soon enough I was back to
pounding the pavement in search
of some food.

But I was hoping for some
better luck this time around.

-[speaking Cambodian]
-[speaking French] I live
with...

-[in French] I live with...
-[In English] A beetle?

[speaking a foreign language]

[Leon] And while
I attempted to communicate

with two ladies at a local
street shop, a funny thing
happened.

I rely on kindness.

-So, it means you need food?
-Yeah.

OK, you can order,
I pay for you.

-Thank you. What is your name?
-Vin.

Vin. I'm Leon.

[Leon] As I ate my delicious
pork and noodle soup,

I got to know my new friend Vin.

Why are you so kind?
Why did you offer me food?

You don'’t know me.

It'’s one of my nature.

[Leon] One of your nature.

-I like to help people.
-Yeah?

Especially foreigners who
are not from our country.

Sometime, you know, I see the
kid walking down the road asking
for money,

so I also invite him to sit next
to me to have food like what I
have.

[Leon] But I had just scratched
the surface of her generosity.

If money wasn'’t an issue and you
could do anything with your
life,

what would you do?

I would help people.

I would bring the money to
charity organization to help the
people.

I help out with my friend, for
an open eye operation, on the
eye.

So, I also help to
contribute some money.

[Leon] I was very intrigued by
the story she told me about her
friend,

and I wanted to know more.

She needs an eye operation?

No, no, not my friend.

My friend have the
information of the other people,

they need the operation.

So she asked me, "Vin,
you want to help?"

I said, "Yes, I want to help,"
so I contribute something.

[Leon] Then I asked her if she
could show me the clinic she
spoke of.

I was unprepared for
what I was about to see.

In the Western world, cataract
surgery is extremely routine and
accessible.

But here in Vietnam, the only
thing standing between these
poor people

and a life of blindness
is this one doctor.

After eight minutes,
he finish, very fast.

So in the past few hours, that
one man saved the sight of 40
people?

Yes, for this morning.

-Just this morning?
-Just this morning.

The doctor gets 30,000 case.

[Leon] 30,000 cases a year?

[Leon] After the killing
fields of Cambodia,

it was nice to be reminded of
the good that exists in the
world.

I was in awe that one person
could make such a profound
difference

in the lives of so many.

Then I had an
opportunity to observe.

[Leon] This is astonishing, all
these people came here without
sight

and they are going
to leave with sight.

[Leon] And after, I had a chance
to sit down with the man
himself.

What motivates you
to give sight to the blind?

You see, I'’m eye doctor,

and, also, I... contact
with many, many patients.

Some of them are rich men
and some of them are poor

and they cannot pay
any money for surgery.

You know, blind people...
is a very heavy burden for their
family.

I doing surgery free of charge.

So, that mean we
need some material.

For example, the lens,
the contact lens put in the eye,

and medicine, everything.

You just said to me that you
do this completely for free.

[Doctor] Mm-hmm.

That is pretty amazing.

Helping people, it'’s my duty.

[Leon] Right then and there
I knew exactly what I needed to
do.

And, when we first met,
you gave me your random act of
kindness.

Which was to give me some food.

And then we started talking,

and you told me about
these two lovely people

and all the hard work
that they'’re doing.

Giving sight to the
poor for free...

it'’s, it's beyond words.

You started this chain of events
by feeding me earlier today,

by giving me a place to stay

and by introducing
me to these people.

So, I'’m going to
continue that chain.

We will fund 100 surgeries.

Thank you very much
for your kindness.

To come here, not to visit our
country but also help our poor
people

to have the operation
on eyes for better sight,

so I think that'’s very good,
thank you very much for that.

And also, I think if you do
that, you will also feel happy.

That'’s so true, it's like giving
is better than receiving.

Maybe more important
than my job here.

[Leon] In this world,
there is much to see.

There are things of
staggering beauty.

Some made by man and
many more by nature.

We may bear witness to
incredible acts of kindness or
unfathomable acts of cruelty.

But, what I have
learned is this...

Although life may always contain
both darkness and light,

ultimately, when we open our
eyes to the world around us,

it is our choice to decide
how we will see it.