A few weeks ago I finished reading “A Long Way Gone,” the memoirs of Ishmael Beah, a US immigrant from Sierra Leone who had once been a child soldier. His story was captivating – from the moment he went down to fetch water from the river, returning to find his village deserted, all the way to escaping Sierra Leone for the last time. The interview above was featured on The Daily Show in February 2007, and the survival and success of Beah is a heartwarming story.
His journey to his self-proclaimed “second life” is one fraught with peril and shows both sides of the human character – his story shows how a 12-year-old boy, under the right circumstances, is capable of committing horrific atrocities to others. But even this young man, doing things simply because he is drugged and delusional, isn’t beyond rescue. The hope that lies within “A Long Way Gone” is emotional and satisfying. Simply getting through the pages, knowing that the words and stories he tells ring true is traumatizing – but the sort of thing people need to read. After reading a story like that, I simply wonder what it is I can do to make a difference or any kind of change in a place like Africa or Sudan.
The book is a must-read for those who want to try and understand the problems of today. I cannot imagine what my life would have turned out to be if I was a soldier before a teen. To see Beah living in New York City, trying to make a change out of his experience is a triumph of good. It is stunning to watch him talk and interact with Jon Stewart, and to see the smile on his face after what he was been through. Hopefully, we will live to see the day when the purveyors of war decide that it is best to leave the fighting to the adults – if they must fight at all.
After what has been a relatively calm period, the front pages now are littered with the going-ons in the latest Israel Palestine conflict. This part of the world is and will always be near and dear to my heart after spending two of the best weeks of my life both living in Bethlehem in the West Bank and touring around the old country. To see it return to its old habits tinges my heart with sadness as I think about the people who are literally being blown to bits. And nothing sticks out more than this excerpt from an email I get from the heart of Jerusalem each week:
