“The applause was astounding as Ishmael Beah stepped up to the platform last Wednesday night in front of a packed house at E.J. Thomas Hall. The First-Year Experience Program invited the author of A Long Way Gone to speak about his experiences as a boy soldier in Sierra Leone, a small country located on the east coast of Africa.”
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The applause was astounding as Ishmael Beah stepped up to the platform last Wednesday night in front of a packed house at E.J. Thomas Hall. The First-Year Experience Program invited the author of A Long Way Gone to speak about his experiences as a boy soldier in Sierra Leone, a small country located on the east coast of Africa. As explained in his book, militants chased Ishmael Beah from his home at the age of 12 and at 13 brainwashed and forced him to join their corrupt army. The war destroyed thousands of homes, took numerous lives and left many children and families displaced.

It’s devastating to think that such inhumanity exists in today’s world. We live our lives with simple naivety, never thinking that somewhere else there may be thousands of people literally starving to death. We see it everyday on television, we hear about it from certain news stations, but can we ever begin to understand the pain that is felt from such tragedy. Can we change the world for the better and make it a place where children are fed and where violence isn’t the only option for change? Beah wrote A Long Way Gone to present these questions to the world and shine some light on a subject that, until recently, has been overlooked.

Beah was forced to travel from village to village, plundering, looting, killing and maiming innocents. Children were generally forced to kill their own families before they continued living their new lives as a boy soldier because it changed the dynamics and values. Because he already lost his entire family, this atrocity was not forced upon him.

While he traveled with the army for three years, Beah remained drugged on cocaine and marijuana, heightening his rage and lessening his sense of humanity. It wasn’t until he had reentered society that he could begin to regain his humanity. To think that a 13-year-old boy could produce such horror under any conditions is unimaginable. Beah’s story does not stand alone as it continues to happen to this day.

Africa is too generalized, said Beah Wednesday night.

There exists a level of ignorance when Africa is involved. According to Beah, human context is sometimes left out completely, and we pay attention to nothing but the violence and horrors that occur in the world, especially in Africa. Sierra Leone has been immersed in a civil war for years, beginning in 1991 and ending in 2001. Sierra Leone is still full of problems today.

According to BBC News in 2007, the population in Sierra Leone neared 6 million, while the life expectancy of males was 41 and the women’s life expectancy was 44. In 2007, 250,000 child soldiers were still fighting in wars as Beah had done over 10 years ago.

Those who recruit children as soldiers believe they are fighting the good fight and, at the same time, they corrupt innocence in the worst possible way.

A Long Way Gone is not an easy read. It’s both emotionally and physically disturbing. Beah goes into great detail describing the horrors that he witnessed, along with the actions he performed during his time in the army.

As detailed as Beah is, however, he writes with a voice that is innocent, truthful and one of which begs for understanding. It’s easy to hate someone such as Beah for what he did in the army but it becomes clear that he struggles with his own humanity and guilt. He uses and refers to the term drug 29 times in three chapters as if to grasp for a reason why he killed others. Ishmael Beah writes his tragic story so that we can learn to accept that the world is not a safe place and that it needs attention. He writes so that we can see his humanity and begin to forgive those who cannot help their fate.

The world is full of tragedy, and we don’t have to go very far from our homes to understand that concept. We face tragedy every day of our lives and we do things that bend our definition of morality. This doesn’t necessarily make us horrible people – it makes us human.

Does our humanity excuse our actions? Of course not. But while our humanity gives us an understanding that things happen beyond our control. It is our humanity that gives us hope that we can change, and it gives us the power to fix our mistakes, to either make our way back home or continue forward with our eyes to the sky. A Long Way Gone portrays this idea of humanity. Humanity is found everywhere you look. You just have to look long enough and hard enough to realize it.

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