Ishmael

I can say, after attending Ishmael Beah's speech on Tuesday night, it is by far the best speech I have ever heard. Almost everything he talked about moved me in some way. It didn't matter if it made me feel guilty, sad, or warm hearted, I constantly felt a new emotion. His story truly moved me, and looking around the hall and seeing people texting or not paying attention was just unreal to me. This amazing man took time out of his day to really tell us his story and these people are acting like they don't even care. Instead of talking about the whole speech I'm going to write down some of the notes I took over my favorite points throughout the presentation.

People who lived in his home village continuously ran away from every adult because they were taught not to trust adults any longer. Also you weren't supposed to trust children because children were often used as spies.

He learned that after seeing people die every day, he no longer was able to feel any emotion while watching.
He was taught violence was how you showed you wanted to be a part of the army so killing or beating eventually became a way of life.

He used to play soccer at school and if his team lost they would beat up the opposing team. So eventually teams would let his team win so they wouldn't get beat up.

To get his VISA to come America he was asked to provide proof of an ownership of land and a proof of a bank account. Was in awe that these people expected a 13 year old to own property and have a solid income in a country that has been in war for so long.

He had to write a paper in college about a memory he had of play during his childhood. While all the students in his class were writing about swimming or playing with their dog, Ishmael wrote about using rubber from balls to make tires, and he saw for the first time that people were almost amazed about what he had to go through and so he decided to write about the war for himself with not intentions of publishing it.