14. April 2009 by student.

For our freshmen summer we had to read the book A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah.  I found this book interesting because it was basically Ishmael’s personal story of his struggle through life.  I thought about the book and how it relates to society and this is what I came up with. 

No society can exist without trust.  In A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier Ishmael explains how every stranger turned into an enemy.  This is a simple description of lack of trust.  Trust is a key feature for any society to cooperate and sustain a welcoming environment.  When trust is gone every face becomes an enemy and every action is done out of spite.  After losing such a basic factor of any common relationship a society crumbles and loses its sense of civilization.   Ishmael proves this through Sierra Leone’s rebel outlook on his friends and himself. 

          Ishmael gives examples of how his society turned their backs on his friends and him whenever he traveled to another village.  When Ishmael was dragged into the war little did he know his life was about to change forever.  After his first real war experience he realized his life was always on the line.  He started to trust no one and look at every person as if they were armed and going to kill him.  While in the army he had his crew and that was it.  If you were not wearing one of their bandannas then you were most likely already dead.  At one of the villages where Ishmael was caught they were taken to the chief.  Had it not been for one of their friends that lived in the village, Ishmael’s friends and himself would have been dead.  That village was only looking to protect themselves.  They heard that there were boys going around and killing entire villages.  The only logic the village had was to not trust anyone.  Luckily Ishmael knew someone that lived there and their lives were spared.  At the village where they met the Good Samaritan fisherman they were also captured.  They were stripped of their clothes and held at gunpoint.  This village also fell victim to losing trust in innocent children.  Then the chief found Ishmael’s cassette tapes and Ishmael proved that they were just kids trying to escape the violence they had been forced to join.  This all proves that without trust nothing can be accomplished and no one can live a normal life.

In Sierra Leone there is no such thing as a normal life.  All families have heard of the war and over half have seen what it can do to people.  The war makes people lose trust in everyone.  After such a terrible thing happens to people and they are directly involved in the war they lose a sense of reality.  They learn that they must do whatever needs to be done in order to protect themselves and their families.  When an individual loses trust in others they normally stay away from society until they can regain that trust back.  If a society loses trust everyone starts to panic.  Through a stage of panic, violence spreads across the country.  This violence leads people to trust no one and they then only look out for themselves.  In Sierra Leone if they do not watch out for their own lives then they will be dead before they realize it.  Civilization will no longer exist after all this occurs and live as it seems will be as simple as guarding your own grave.

          Throughout the book Ishmael’s friends along with himself were almost always looked at as if they were rebels.  No one trusted anyone for any reason.  When a society becomes like this they lose a sense of hope.  That hope is that their country will one day regain trust and become a better nation.  Without that trust they also lose communication.   Communication is key and without it they are no longer a society but they become nothing.  They are now just a group of enemies all living within certain boundaries.

Work Cited

Beah, Ishmael. A Long Way Gone : Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. New York: Sarah

     Crichton Books, 2007.

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 1 Comment »

14. April 2009 by student.

In a few months I’ll be twenty years old and to be honest I’m not too excited for this birthday because I’m still not old enough to legally drink. I still have another year till I can go out and order a drink at a bar. This is ridiculous I can sign my life away to the government and go into war, legally have sex and get married and possibly start a family. Though I’m not able to order an alcoholic beverage at a bar? The legal drinking age has a huge effect on our society and the way teens and college students consume alcohol. Why when someone turns eighteen are they able to be treated and prosecuted as an adult yet can’t drink alcohol. Because underage drinkers can’t legally order a drink when they go out with their friends to a bar or where ever they are going they tend to consume a large amount of alcohol before arriving. This is called binge drinking which not only leads to alcohol poisoning but in some cases death. If these underage drinkers could order there drinks when they arrive at their destination they wouldn’t consume as much alcohol in such a short time, allowing their bodies to properly take in the alcohol. I can join the military, put my life on the line, and even kill people, but I’m not old enough to drink. Not really much of an argument there. Joining the military is wonderful thing if it’s for you, though shouldn’t you be allowed to drink at the age you can put your life in the line. War is a physical and mental battle that can take a huge toll on a person’s life. In fact I can’t think of anything more mentally damaging then watching your buddies get shot or bombed in battle. So at eighteen your body and mind is supposed to be able to handle this physically and mentally draining experience. Yet an eighteen year old can’t handle a beer with only five percent of alcohol in it. I find this to be very unbalanced, as well as unfair. Being a mother and a father is a huge role to play at eighteen yet America seems to think it’s an ok age to play the part. Even though yet again you can’t go to the bar after picking up your kids from daycare and order yourself a beer. All in all I feel that the drinking age should be more fitted to our society to make things more balanced.

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