Follow up- January Series

I got back from the January Series presentation not too long ago. It was very interesting, though a little different than I expected. I thought he would basically be making some sort of dramatic telling of his story. At first he actually said "I was a child soldier from the ages of 12-15, then I was rehabilitated." And I was a little disappointed, like I already knew I wasn't going to get what I was expecting. But it was still really good.

He did go into more detail here and there, but I think the reason he didn't tell it all is that he couldn't. He actually wrote an entire book about it, and for me to assume he could tell that story in one hours time was probably a little naive of me.

Here is a little summary of his story: at the age of 12 he happened to be away from home when the war entered his country (Sierra Leone) from Liberia. His whole family was in their village and were killed. He was left with his brother (I think) to survive on their own, day by day, when they were basically kidnapped (though he didn't say that) and forced into military service. He said he was "involuntarily drafted". He said that one awful thing about fighting in a war is that it forces you to dehumanize your enemy in order to justify killing them, but in that process, you also dehumanize yourself. At the age of 15, he was rescued by UNICEF and put in a rehabilitation center in the capital city, and through a long process (at least 8 months) was rehabilitated. He came to the US (I think maybe he was adopted) and lives in New York and speaks regularly during presentations at the United Nations and various other NGOs. I hope to buy his book soon and read it. It's called "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier".

Here are some highlights that I took away:
"One thing that I learned was that the human spirit is so resilient and strong that it is able to find hope in complete hopelessness."

One thing that enabled him to recover faster than some was that he was taught at a young age to find and celebrate the simple joys of life.

Suffering is all equal. We tend to discredit other people's suffering and consider it smaller than our own, but we shouldn't judge or belittle other people's suffering.

Education helps us discover our place and purpose in this world. He credits it for helping to rehabilitate him as well.

These are the breeding grounds for war: demoralization, destitution, poverty and desperation. People in these circumstances and are more manipulable because if you offer anything that could possibly change their situation, they will be desperate to comply.

Writers should only write with a purpose and they have the responsibility to be accurate. If they make things up, they are doing a disservice to people who may have lived similar stories.

He said that after going through so much and now living in the US, every day he wakes up with a smile on his face. He used to live minute to minute just trying to survive and appreciates that every morning is a gift from God and an oportunity to live out your purpose in this world.