*read some of the kids comments on this video-wow
After watching an interview with Ishmael Beah from CBS's The Hour, I cannot help but get the impression of what an amazing and inspiring guy he is. He went through so many terrible and painful experiences and not only recovered, but was able to share his experiences with the world and use his suffering to promote the awareness and resolution of the issue of child soldiers. From watching the clip, I got a sense of how real he was, how he had a glow and a great smile and so much life in him, even after all that he'd been through! His on-air personality was very natural and composed. He seemed very sincere and like he has reached a point in which he is actually comfortable talking about his experiences. A lot of things that he said in the interview reminded me of specific passages from his book. He talked about mothers and fathers carrying their dead sons and daughters while running away from the war, which reminded me of the part when Ishmael was heading back toward his home town and saw the mom with a dead baby on her back dripping blood and a father carrying his dead son. He also talked about watching Rambo movies and how they 'fed' them drugs to keep them in fighting mode, which reminded me of the scenes when he is a soldier. Talking about how he didn't want to leave the army and how he was resistant to the new home he was put in also reminded me of the memoir. Both his interview and his memoir demonstrate the strength of the human nature to fight for life through immense struggles and catastrophes and also the human resiliency that allowed him to be able to get through those struggles and now lead a relatively normal life. I already recommended this book to my mom, but I would definitely also recommend A Long Way Gone to my other friends and family because it is a very well written and truly touching story and it gave me a new perspective about the problem of child soldiers in Africa.
WC: 343
1 comment:
I totally agree with you about how Ishmael just radiates life and has a great smile. It's great that he was able to recover from the horrors that he saw, caused, and experienced. I also agree with you on those things he said in the interview that were parallel to what he wrote about in his book.
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