Journal 5 from Dallas

Part One

In today’s readings, I noticed specifically, when Beahs group and Mambus group joined up and were asking around "why were they given up by their commanders?" When they see a group of boys around their age they ask and it starts an intense argument before one of the boys reveals they are rebels. What stood out to me when this happened is this direct quote "We fought for the RUF; the army is the enemy. We fought for freedom, and the army killed my family and destroyed my village. I will kill any of those army bastards every time I get a chance to do so." (Beah,134) Beah would say the exact same thing except substitute the RUF for Army. In war, we forget that everyone is human even our enemy. We see the enemy as devils and there is no way we could ever sit beside them without wanting to tear them apart. We never see until after the smoke has cleared that you and the opposing soldier might have been interested in the same things or in this case lived through the same tragedies.

            I also noticed the profound nutriment and forgiveness the staff gave to the boys. This is evident when they battered Poppay for simply stating that they would have to wait for their mattresses to dry. They left the man unconscious on the floor bleeding. He had every right to hate the boys for what they had done to him but instead when he returned days later with a limp and flashed a smile and said “It is not your fault that you did such a thing to me.” The boys hate it every time a staff member says those words to them but what they don’t know is that it will slowly allow them to heal.

Part Two

Growing up I had a friend named Kasey. Normal kid, hyperactive, and involved in sports. We both started wrestling in 7^th grade and since we were close in weight we would be workout partners. In wrestling Kasey was agile and had a great mindset on how to set certain moves up. Very talented. We had known each other since elementary school but never gotten close but the sport of wrestling helped us with that. At tournaments after matches we would always try to pick up girls. Normal things of a teenager. As high school years progressed we started to part ways not because of anything drastic. These things just happen sometimes. We were part of different crowds. I started my senior season of wrestling Kasey wasn’t there next to me. I had heard the stories of what he was into but just never grasped any of it. After I graduated I left for the army and didn’t give a care for anyone back home unless it was with my closest friends. The last I heard about Kasey is that he joined the army, got kicked out, had a few kids, and was going door to door in our small town asking for pennies to support his habit. Looking back now I see the signs that led to his falls.