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Even though it was July 4^th, I did not go outside and stayed home to read a memoir A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah. 

A Long Way Gone was a memoir by Ismael Bech, a former child solider in Sierra Leone. Before the rebels had reached Ismael’s village, Mattru Jong, Ismael was living happily like other children from other parts of the world; however, one day, the rebels attacked his village, and he had lost contact with all of his family members.  The rebels burned his village and killed the villagers severely. As the rebels continued to attack other villages, Ismael and his friends decided to escape to a town called Yele, where it was protected by the military. With hopes of finding their family members, Ismael and his friends began to go to different villages on foot. In some of the villages, the people welcomed Ismael and his friends with food; moreover, in the other villages, Ismael and his friend were treated savagely and were asked a lot of questions to claim their innocence. On the way to Yele, Saidu, a traveler with Ismael, died. Saidu was buried in a village, and Ismael continued their journey to the next village, where he had hopes to find his family members; however, just before Ismael had arrived, the village was attacked by the rebels, and according to the conversations of the rebels, all people in the village, including Ismael’s family members, were killed. Ismael was very angry, but he could not do anything. Finally, Ismael had arrived Yele. Because the military did not have enough soldiers to protect Yele, Ismael and his friends were ordered to join the army. He completely lost his old peaceful mind after joining the military. The cassettes, which were the symbols of his “civilian life,” were destroyed.

            As I was putting on my new army shorts, a soldier took my old pants and threw them into a blazing fire that had been set to burn our old belongings. I ran toward the fire, but the cassettes had already started to melt. Tears formed in my eyes, and my lips shook as I turned away. (Beah, Affairs, Arms, and Poplaski 110)

At first, Ismael did not like killing people, and later he got used to it. He felt indifferent of killing people as he killed people as a daily routine. It seemed to Ismael that “The idea of death didn’t cross my mind at all and killing had become as easy as drinking water”. (Beah, Affairs, Arms, and Poplaski 122) Serving in the military for many days, he became a junior lieutenant. One day, Ismael’s lieutenant ordered Ismael to disarm himself and followed some foreigners to the UN rehabilitation center. At the beginnings, Ismael was suffering from the drugs and fought with the rebels in the center. After a while, his emotions were settled down, and he began to enjoy his civilian life again with his uncle and new cassettes from the nurse; moreover, Freetown, the town that Ismael and his uncle lived, was attacked by the rebels, and his uncle eventually died. Ismael had no choice but left the country with the money from Laura, a lady whom he met in New York in the UN conference.

After I finished reading this memoir, it was already mid-night, and I went to bed.