Growing Up Too Fast

Ishmeal Beah is a man in a child’s body but is still a child at heart. Ishmeal have unfortunately have had to go through horrors that many people have never experienced and probably never will. These horrors made the decision for him and whether or not he was going to grow up to fast. “After all the trouble and risk we undertook to get the money, it became useless. We would have been less hungry if we had stayed at the village instead of walking the miles to Mattru Jong and back. I wanted to blame someone for this particular predicament, but there was no one to be blamed. We had made a logical decision and it had come to this. It was a typical aspect of being in the war. Things changed rapidly in a matter of seconds and no one had any control over anything. We had yet to learn these things and implement survival tactics, which was what it came down to, (Beah 29)” A child would have come up with a million different people or things to blame this predicament on. But Ishmeal, at the age of twelve, realized something that some people don’t realize until it’s almost too late, that sometime there is no to blame but yourself. He also realized that war it’s just sticks and stones as some people think it is. It is a forever changing thing that no one can predict a single thing about. However Ishmeal still contains the heart of a child, because everyone has it somewhere deep inside them, it’s just buried away; like Ishmeal’s. He still wants to be a child; he wants to blame someone for his life being changed beyond recognition. Just like a child would, he wants everything to go back to the way it was and that he can still believe that the war will never affect his life. But it can’

Brutally Honest

It is necessary for the author to be brutally honest when describing the violence in his book. Without such detailed descriptions of the violence that the author experienced you would not and could not fully understand what it was like to live through this war. For example in the book a long way gone the author, Ishmael Beah, describes deaths that he himself witnessed when he was a young boy. The depth that he uses not only shows us on the page but also in our imaginations as well. “The last casualty that we saw that evening was a woman who carried her baby on her back. Blood was running down her dress and dripping behind her, making a trail. Her child had been shot dead as she ran for her life. Luckily for her the bullet didn’t go through the baby’s body. When she stopped at where we stood, she sat on the ground and removed her child. It was a girl, and her eyes were still open, with an interrupted innocent smile on her, (page 13)”The depth of the words makes them experiences and not just words on a piece of paper.

A Wierd Way to to Describe the Feeling of War

In the book “A Long Way Gone” Ishmael Beah continues to switch from a happy narrative to a horrible narrative throughout his book to mirror the idea that happiness is so fragile – that it can be gone in the blink of an eye. First he could be narrating a happy time like when his mother, his older brother Junior, and himself were walking to his little brother school when he thought “My mother seemed lost in her thoughts, smiling as she relived the moments” (Beah 11). Then within the next page or two Beah narrates a bad time, like the horrible casualties that he witnessed when he was just a little boy, “The last casualty that we saw that evening was a woman who carried her baby on her back. Blood was running down her dress and dripping behind her, making a trail. Her child had been shot dead as she ran for her life. Luckily for her the bullet didn’t go through the baby’s body. When she stopped at where we stood, she sat on the ground and removed her child. It was a girl, and her eyes were still open, with an interrupted innocent smile on her,” (Beah 13). War is not something that someone can control, one moment everything can be just prefect and the next could be a nightmare coming true. It continues to change whether it’s for the betterment of the people or for the betterment of the rebels. Beah is showing this through his organization, through his narratives the readers can know the experience of war and the ever changing ways of war. That in its self allows them to enjoy and understand his book. Thus making them more aware of the war in his homeland.

Tittering on the Edge of Heaven and Hell

Elie’s most intense inner conflict is his faith. At the beginning of the book he had this undying faith to God. He wanted to farther his studies in Kabbalah by getting a master. However as time passed, along with horrible events, he began to questioned his faith, his God. Where is he? Why is he letting so horrible happen to his people? And of all the people in the world why his? Elie even started to spite God, but even as he was doing so a void opened up inside of him. He still wants to believe but at the same time he can’t. His heart needs someone to be his support, to tell him everything will be ok and that he’ll always have someone there for him even when he is with his father. He is tittering on the edge of cliff that if he falls could lead to his death. Just as Akiba Drumer did when he let his faith leave his grasp, “As soon as he felt the first chinks in his faith, he lost all incentive to fight and opened the door to death,” (Wiesel 77). The question now is will Elie fall or will he find his footing on the ladder of faith?

We are Animals

In life you need guidance, whether it’s your parents, your friends or events that change you; for the good or for bad. But few people think that your instincts guide you as well. Some call them your conscious or your gut that usually tells you something is wrong. Your instincts are what truly guides you through life. They are supposed to lead you down the path of goodness and not down the road to darkness. However sometimes, when in great danger, they stray you way from that path of right and down a path that you later on wish you had never chosen. The need and the want to survive can let evil seep into your soul and lead you down the road of no return. We, human, are animals and although we don’t act like it; we too have instincts that lay deep inside of us that makes us animals. They sleep until the time has come for them to be wakened. In the book “A Long Way Gone,” by Ishmael Beah, Ishmael’s instincts awakes and leads him down a path that, if he were in his human mind, would have disgusted him. But he wasn’t in his human mind, he was in his animal mind, and that mind decided to become a child soldier so that he would have a chance to survive. Ishmael, the human, didn’t want to join in the army, no he wanted to leave the war and find his family, but he has no choice. He was backed into a corner and the human him could see a way out. And although he wanted to listen to his heart, he can’t for his instincts to survive had woken; “It is better to stay here for now.’ He signed. We had no choice. Leaving the village was as good as being dead,” (Beah 107). ‘No choice meaning no escaping death,’ that it what our human mind would think but our instincts think ‘There is a way, there is safety in numbers. The path to survive is to join;’ to join the war, to fight, to cut others lives short when the reason is not clear. This is decision is what makes us afraid of our instincts. The thought that we would leave our humanity behind and kill another human, makes us sick. And though that do think that they are not a human but a sick, twisted animal; when it is really is just nature. Elie Wiesel, author of “Night,” also lived through a time of great terror and a time of many human leaving humanity. He lived through the Holocaust, and just as Ishmael’s instincts awoke so did Elie’s. However Elie was able to fight them off, while Ishmael wasn’t for he was still a child and therefore unaware of what was happening to him. For Elie, he not only saw his instincts being awoken; he saw other waking up too. Like Rabbi Eliahu’s son, who instincts told him to leave his father behind for he was letting his chance of surviving slip away. Unfortunately later on Elie’s instincts were telling him to do the same; “I gave him what was left of my soup. But my heart was heavy. I was aware that I was doing it grudgingly,” (Wiesel 107). Fortunately for Elie god did not let him make that choice of whether or not to end his father’s life, the SS officers made it for him. This is nature, this is real life. No technology, no cities, no towns but pure nature. And in nature you live by eat or be eaten rule, or the be the hunter or be hunted standards. Sometimes your instinct to survive isn’t the only one that has awoken or could have already been there. Sometime other instincts get in the way of the one that tells you to survive and you lose the game of life because of it. Elie watched as a son killed his own father for a piece of bread, that his father had fought for just for him. The father’s parent instincts were still there, telling him to watch and care for his son, but his son’s instincts were to get food even if it meant killing someone and that someone was his father. In the end both of them lost their life for their instinct of danger yield to their other instincts, “Meir, my little Meir! Don’t’ you recognize me …..You’re killing your father…..I have bread….for you too….for you too.’….. The old man mumbled something, groaned and died. Nobody cared. His son searched him, took the crust of bread and began to devour it. He didn’t get far. Two men had been watching him. They jumped him. Others joined. When they withdrew there were two dead bodies next to me; the father and the son,” (Wiesel 101 - 102). The father instinct to care for his son overpowered his instinct to survive and to watch for danger; he never thought that it would his own son that would carry that angel of death upon him. In turn the son’s instinct to eat left his neck open for an attack; never let the instinct to eat overpower the instinct to check for danger. For then you automatically lose. We, humans, think we are so superior to other beings; that we would never lower ourselves to a level below that of ours. That we would never have to make life or death choices whether for ourselves or for another, that situations of great despair will never happen to us or that we won’t be force to abandon our humanity and join our animal brethren once again but we are wrong. Though we have hands, walk on two feet and can talk many different languages; while our animal brethren have paws, walk on four legs and can’t even speak words. But they are above us, for they use their instincts every day and in turn don’t fear them. While we fear and have disgust for those of us human who use our instincts; those some instincts that were given to us by god to guide us through life. Some may think god is insane then, but he is not. It is us who is insane, we who are disgusted with something that is a part of us and will always be a part of us.

A Child Who Lost It All

Why didn’t you take him back? Just because he was something he shouldn’t have been It’s not his fault It’s his higher ups It makes me really sad To know that he went back To where he used to be To the way he used to be The bad place The bad way And not taken back in To where he should have been The whole time Safe and sound in your arms You had a second chance to have him back After losing track of him But you stabbed him in the back Just because he was something he shouldn’t have been How do you think he felt When his hope was shut out Maybe he wanted to start over He worked hard to come back To where he is supposed to be But you showed that you don’t care And put him back to where it all started The path of death and horror Back to being A child soldier I wrote this in memory of Mambu, a child soldier in the Sierra Leone war who was rejected by his family even after he was rehabilitated. He was a friend of Ishmael Beah, the author of A Long Way Gone. It’s a must read.

Don't you get that

Death is permanent Don’t you get that? If you do Then why? Why push me Towards it? Ignoring me Pushing me away Punching and kicking Calling me names That hurts so much Acting like you care Only to dump me at a fair Death is the end So why do you want me to end If you don’t then stop Because you’re making My life end short But you don’t realize Until the deed is done Death is permanent Don’t you get that? I have written this in the point of view of a person who is suicidal, so that you get a taste of what it feels like to them

Can see me

Hey! I'm right here Can’t you see me? Did you think I didn’t hear That you don’t really care But can’t you see that I can Can’t you see my pain… My misery Can’t you see me calling out Calling out in need I’m trying to tell you What I really need Can’t you see me Me in need Of a savior A hero I’m a damsel in distress I need saving But no one Can see me I have written this in the point of view of a person who is suicidal, so that you get a taste of what it feels like to them

Just a Thing

Why? Why me? What did I ever do To make you be so cruel My life isn't a plaything Nor is it a game I am a living breathing thing So why are you hurting me? Did I do this to you!? Because I don't recall a thing All I asked for Was your support Someone I could lean on A shoulder to cry on Someone to talk to But you all left me in The dust Just because of a stupid bust Is that really all I am to you? A plaything? Something to make you feel better While I'm trapped in the gutter? I'm not a friend Just a thing So I guess it won't matter If I put my head on a platter I really don't want to But I don't know what to do You've taken everything Because i relied on you But I'm just a thing A thing that is Stupid Ugly Not cool Ect. But I'm not I'm.... Beautiful Funny Playful A Good Listener A somebody Not a nobody But to you I'm just a thing I have written this in the point of view of a person who is suicidal, so that you get a taste of what it feels like to them

Lost

Hello?

Are you there?

Cause I need to talk

Before my time is up

I can't stop thinking

That my end is here...

I really don't want to go

But where else do I go?

Do I forget and forgive

When they don't

Do I move

I feel so lost

I've lost everything…

I have written this in the point of view of a person who is suicidal, so that you get a taste of what it feels like to them

A Friend

I've lost everything But all I need is one thing A person A friend Somebody Who can listen And help me through 'Cause I don't know What to do But I just need one thing To put me back on tract A friend A true friend A best friend Who'll listen And know When I'm about to fall That’s why I'm calling out Can you hear my cry Please let me know If you can hear my call Before I go… I have written this in the point of view of a person who is suicidal, so that you get a taste of what it feels like to them

Arab Springs

The Arab Spring has been popping up in many countries in northern Africa and central Asia. But many people have started to question whether or not the revolutions created by the spring are for the better good. There are many positive effects coming from the Arab Springs. But the biggest one is that the citizens of those countries that has gone through or are still going through the revolution get to start over. New governments mean there are new choices to choose from, new leaders who have a different way of looking at situations. With those new leaders comes justice for those who did wrong and laws that only hurt the people are removed. With the older and outdated laws being removed, a better life is possible for everyone. The citizens can now make their own decisions on how they want to live, and they are given their rights back; including the right to freedom. There are many negatives effects as well but it all starts with the person in charge not wanting to give up their power and giving themselves more power until they control everything. After some time the people disagree with the dictator and start protesting, the government fights back and you get violence between the two groups. That Violence leads to deaths and families torn apart, and along with all of that the economy goes bad. Which only causes more trouble for the people who are fighting for freedom. With the economy down, prices go up on everything and people can’t take care of their families with all the money being lost. Now other countries d get involved because they’re being affected as well. Most of them side with the people, the angered government tights it grip on the people with more rules and regulations. That only leads to more fighting, then after the people win and the dictator finally stands down, the people still have to deal with the biggest effect. It will take a really long time for the process of getting the country back into order and where the people want it to be. All in all we’ll have to wait and see what happens. Then and only then can we decide if the revolutions were for the better.