Elie Wiesel winner of the nobel peace prize, in his speech demonstrates hope, despair, and memory and how it affects one life. He brings this to attention when he states that “all those victims need above all is is to know what they are not alone; that we are not forgetting them...that while their freedom depends on ours, the quality of our freedom depends on theirs”(11). Just like Wiesel’s speech, A long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah shares a view similar to Wiesel , about the importance of hope, despair, and memory and how they can affect the lives of many. This relates to Ishmael Beah, a boy who violently lost his family and sucked into the world of drugs and killing. Both Wiesel and Beah have experienced traumatic events filled with despair, …show more content…
However, they chose to use their experiences, not as a constant reminder of the pain they endured, but as a way to give hope and inspiration to others, as well as inform about their experiences to help prevent things, such a child soldiers and the holocaust from happening again. Even though Beah had to talk about what he went through and relive it, as did the other people he worked with, they all stated that “our faces and eyes glittered with hope and promise of happiness. It seemed we were transforming our sufferings as we talked about ways to solve their causes and let them be known to the world” (198). They all choose to use their experiences as help and guidance for others instead of a burden on them and they enjoy it. They turn something so horrid and dreadful into something inspirational and amazing. Without hope, Beah wouldn 't have made it out alive, let alone into this country to accomplish something so good and heartwarming. Throughout A Long Way Gone, Beah uses his experiences as an example that bad things in a way can be good because like Beah did, the stories of bad experiences can give hope and possibility to others and give others hope that they can push through and they can get better. It could also help prevent future tragedies from happening