Tuesday, May 15, 2012

The things I realized after reading the book

This book has changed a lot of my old views on the world. Reading this book has brought me out of my reverie that everything is good in the world. I have also realized that there are a lot of people in the world who need help.

I am someone who generally thinks the best of everyone and who thinks that the world is just full of rainbows and smiley faces. I now understand after reading this book that there are places in the world where everything is not good and where people suffer immensley and have terrible lives. Since I grew up in Canada, which is generally a very safe and good place to live in, I always just assumed until I was about 14 or so that everywhere else in the world is just as good as Canada, but in a different way. Even when I realized that not everywhere is like Canada, I still thought that there was at least one place in every country in the world that was good and safe. I couldn't have been more wrong. After reading this book my eyes were opened to the reality that there are countries that have no safe spot, such as Sierra Leone. Ishmael had nowhere to go that was safe from the war. I learned while reading this book that every part of Sierra Leone was affected by the war, not just one part of it. I now know that as much as I would like to believe that every country has at least one safe spot, that is not always the case.

Before reading this book, I never thought that there were so many different things that so many people need help for. As someone who is very opposed to violence, I often choose to ignore it. I now know that violence in the world cannot be overlooked. This book has made me realize that all people, including myself, need to do something to help people, like Ishmael and the people in this book, who are being affected by violence. People need help with other things, not just when violence is affecting them. When I was reading this book and hearing about people starving, losing their families and having no where to live, I realized that there are many people who need help for many different things. Ishmael was lucky to find food, his whole family was killed and he was constantly on the run. Ishmael desperatley needed help and it was painful to read how long it took for him to be rescued, and how hard he had to work to get out of Sierra Leone when the war reached him again. I don't think I've ever felt more compelled to do something for the people of other countries who need help than I do after reading this book. This book has really made me realize that there are lot of people in the world who need help and we all need to pitch in and help them out. There is always something we can do. After all, if I was suffering, I would want someone to help me.

To be honest, after reading this book I think I now have a better understanding of what the world is truly like and have realized that many people are desperately in need of help from the rest of the world. I've realized that there are places full of violence where people are constantly at risk of being killed. Not everywhere is as safe as I would like it to be. After reading this book, my eyes have been opened to the problems of the world.

6 comments:

  1. I agree with what you say. I feel extremely grateful to live where I do, in Canada. To have everything I do. I am too aware of problems around the world, more now than before. This book has really opened my eyes to the beauties and difficulties around the world.

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  2. I now know after reading this book, that I am so lucky to have the great life I do, and that many children in the world do not have great lives.

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    1. Learning about the difficulties around the world makes you want to help them. Makes you want to make a difference, make the world a better place. When I learn about how lucky I am, I want to make everyone just as lucky.

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    2. I feel the same way. It is unfair that not everyone is as lucky as we are. I wish I could just snap my fingers and make everyone have a great life like the ones we have. Everyone deserves to have a good life.

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    3. Exactly, I want to help everyone, but then how do you help them all. I know there are ways you can help someone, but when you here of all the different organizations out there you want to donate to them all. Do you feel that way?

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    4. I do feel that way. I want to donate to all sorts of organizations, but I really only have enough money to donate to one, maybe two. I feel bad when I have to choose only one. I guess it's better to donate to one or two, then to donate to none though, right?

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