Professor Andrew Mertha wasn’t the planned speaker for the night, but he definitely gave an admirable lecture for someone had received news that he was speaking on short notice. I don’t really have any background on China or government, and even though I didn’t grasp some of the topics he was discussing, Dr. Mertha’s interests for the subjects was clear. The takeaways I received from the talk were not necessarily the specific details of the history lessons, but rather the paths that perseverance can take you.

Professor Mertha discussed the obstacles he encountered and the hoops he had to jump through in order to succeed in his research, and he told us about the struggles he ran into while trying to uncover the secrets in his Khmer Rouge primary source documents. By luck, by perseverance, and by the help of his senior honors student, Professor Mertha managed to track down people who lived through these key points in history and piece together the stories behind the words on paper. Had he not put every ounce of his focus into solving the puzzle, he would not have been able to finish his book.

The passion he displayed for his research motivated me to continue my own search for a subject that will pique my interest as strongly as the Khmer Rouge era did his.