Ishmael Beah - an inspiration for all of us

Yesterday I saw Ishmael Beah speak (I'm getting my fair share of speakers these days!). He was a child soldier during the civil war in Sierra Leone and recently published a book about his experiences. I've read about half and I can't imagine a more hellacious experience for a young boy. What I found most amazing as I heard him speak was his optimism and approach to the healing process. He feels that all child soldiers can be rehabilitated and reintegrated into civil life, even after years of fighting. For him, part of that healing process has been writing the book and talking to people about his experiences, in large part through UNICEF. He's even gotten to the point that he can forgive the people who made him fight by rationalizing that wishing harm to them doesn't help him at all and only perpetuates more violence. He also believes that those people have families that need them in some capacity and wishing violence on those people would hurt those families. I find this amazing and inspiring.... It also really puts things into perspective! Here's his website if you're interested: http://www.alongwaygone.com/

Ishmael Beah

His book. Buy it! It's a very powerful book and Starbucks will donate money to UNICEF for each book that sells.