Ishmael Beah

taken advantage of and after they are brainwashed by their commanders they don't know what they are doing is a war crime. Some might say, however, that these child soldiers are choosing to volunteer for service and that is true to an extent, but as Ishmael Beah said, “ we were given a choice to leave or to fight, but everyone who left was killed.” So you see, these children really do have no choice whether to fight or to remain neutral among these…

not knowing what they were doing, and what the consequences could be. Once children are in the military it is tough for them to leave because they might rely on them for protection, drugs, shelter, money, and food. A former child soldier named Ishmael Beah in Sierra Leone said when he was rescued he felt like he was being taken away from a family because he would talk about Shakespeare with his commander. So just because child soldiers could willing join the military doesn't mean they knew what…

The first point to consider is that they aren’t always morally responsible for their actions. “The recruiters of child soldiers tend to use drugs and alcohol to make children more compliant and to enable them to commit acts they would not ordinarily commit” (Debatewise). When under the influence of drugs and alcohol, people don’t do things they usually do, and for kids it’s even worse because they aren’t familiar to these substances. These can take control of one’s life, and can lead it to…

words of Socrates, living life is about examining life, reason lets human beings participate in their world, to be human is to think and explore. One good for the soul is knowledge, as stated by Ishmael Beah, “we have a personal library in our minds that we must provide information for, and nourish,” (Beah). But it is not enough to only examine the universe and soak in the outside world, we must examine the universe in our soul. Although a “good life” begins with a brain that is healthy and…

is a sinister demand for child soldiers as they are recruited by groups which both take part in the raiding of peaceful civilizations with families. As Ishmael Beah described in his memoir A Long Way Gone, the unavoidable choice given to a great number of African children is to either kill and take or forfeit what you have and perish. However, Beah also states with assurance, “ . . . children have the resilience to outlive their sufferings, if given a chance.” Having been a child soldier himself…

Doesn’t it seem a little ridiculous that some children are forced to become soldiers and then are punished for the crimes they committed in war? Well, in today's world, unfortunately, there are many child soldiers fighting all over the world. The topic child soldiers has become a bigger and bigger controversy across the world today because of weather or not child soldiers deserve amnesty. The reason why it has become so controversial is because many people question if it is truly the child's…

give child soldiers the drugs and then tell the child soldiers that they should stay in the military. Former child soldier Ishmael Beah claims “ You’re fed drugs and then there are always ways of killing people to desensitize you. Your given more drugs after that then you watch more violence just so you will be brainwashed into keeping yourself in this madness.” What Ishmael says about being desensitized and being taught to stay in the “madness” further proves the point of why child soldiers…