Dos Erres: I cried today.

I had the cruise control set to 71 as I listened intently to podcast number 465 of This American Life.  Podcasts are a way to make my commute go by faster and also keep my mind alert.  This is a routine I have formed, however, today was different than most morning drives.  Today I cried.  Episode 465 is titled "What Happened at Dos Erres" and is dedicated to the story of the Dos Erres massacre and an amazing ending to an atrocious event.  Dos Erres was a small village taken over by Guatemalan soldiers called Kaibiles.  An evacuation of the entire village was performed and the soldiers then proceeded to rape the women and murder every inhabitant: men, women, and children.  The bodies were then heaved into a deep pit, some still alive when their helpless bodies were thrown over the edge.  

Listening to this story is disturbing and again makes one's soul scream the question, "How could this happen?"  "How could anyone perform such atrocities?"  Then the part of the podcast came that brought the tears to my eyes.  Tranquilino Castañeda had a wife and 9 children.  He was out of town on that dark night.  When he returned, all was gone: His home was burned, his wife had been raped and killed, and his children had each been slaughtered.  My eyes welled up as I thought of this poor man in the jungles of Guatemala who in a night was robbed of everything.  The kind of tragedy he suffered is incomprehensible to me, to most everyone.  

Nevertheless, out of such a bitter cup comes an amazing story of reunion.  Oscar, Tranquilino's youngest son, was one of two boys whose lives were spared that night by an army commander.  He was raised by the commander's family and later moved to the United States.  After some amazing investigation, and surely the hand of God, it was determined that Oscar was Tranqilino's son and the two were reunited for the first time in 30 years.  Listening to this podcast flooded me with a multitude of emotions but the bottom line is this: We may not understand why such devastation and violence happens but I do know that everything that is unjust in this world will one day be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  

I encourage you to listen to the podcast, despite the mature topic at hand and some disturbing details.  

Below are the following links:

The podcast.

Oscar reuniting with his father.

Wikipedia article. 

P.S. I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments section after you have a chance to listen to the podcast.