Bryce Conner, Spencer Hathaway

A Long Way Gone

For my second memoir, I read A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah. The central idea in this text is the impact of war on both the soldiers and the general population.    A Long Way Gone focuses on the war in Sierra Leone;  the war in Afghanistan exhibits several parallels to the African conflict.

Child warriors have been pulled into both conflicts with long term ramifications.  Unicef reports that children are recruited or forced into service because they are easier to manipulate.  This robs them of their childhood and creates an ongoing crisis after the conflict ends.  The child soldier may see violence as the sole method to achieve their objectives after witnessing repeated brutalities and being subject to physical, emotional and substance abuse themselves.

In 2010, the Society for Research in Child Development studied the re-acclimation process for former child soldiers in Sierra Leone and Uganda.  They found that children that witnessed war were significantly less traumatized than those who actually hurt or killed others.  In addition, a non-violent and supportive living environment was key to the mental health of the former child soldier.

While war is certainly hard on the youngest citizens, soldiering creates a huge burden with long term mental health implications. I see that I am very fortunate compared to other children around the world who have had their freedoms robbed by the time they reach my age