Journal 7 by Christian Poncsak

Within the story of A Long Way Gone, I have been able to relate to the character named, Leslie. This is because Leslie is a brave and non-fearing individual who has a heart to set out in search of Ismael's Uncle Tommy. Within Chapter 18 on page 171 of A Long Way Gone Leslie went out in search for Ismael's uncle and came back with him leaving Tommy in shock goes to show the care and love she has for him to be able to search for him in town. I relate to Leslie really well because of her work ethic to get a job that almost seems impossible done well. As an aspiring entrepreneur many people in the world have doubts in you in the terms of how successful one could be as an entrepreneur. With Ismael's skepticism in Leslie it gave me comfort to realize that the people who seem the least likely to do it are the one's that end up pulling it off.

I fee like Ismael's rehabilitation is going incredibly well but I wouldn't necessarily want him to be in my neighborhood because of his unaccustomed way of not showing happiness even when he's happy. It would make me feel  as if I was doing something wrong all the time and it would make me go into a depression because of being around someone like Ismael not showing any emotion on his face. Life to me is about showing all of your emotions in order to be real and honest with people to develop a relationship with them. It's possible for Ismael to move into my neighborhood but he would still have a long way to go.

Something that stuck out to me within Chapter 19 on page 181 in A Long Way Gone in the second paragraph. Ismael's family had shown a great sense of character to me with how they've embraced Ismael moving leaving the Benin Home and moving in with them. When Uncle Tommy said, "I welcome you today like a chief. Your feet may touch the ground when you lose your chieftaincy, which begins now." This has shown that his uncle is incredibly proud of his brother's son. He want's Ismael to be humbled and down to earth. His uncle is bringing back Ismael little by little. After he sat Ismael down on the ground they both laughed. Ismael found it hard to express emotion on the outside but on the inside he felt when he wasn't expressing. The love his Uncle Tommy has for him even though they haven't known each other since Ismael was little. It was really encouraging for me to see this with his uncle as well as the love shown towards Ismael by his four cousins Allie, Matilda, Allie, and Sombo. I'm not too close with my cousins on my parent's sides of the family so reading this and picturing the love for one another made me feel that love they've had towards each other.

The part that stuck out the most to me was the part on the first page of Chapter 18 on page 167 of A Long Way Gone where Esther told Ismael to think of her as his sister since they didn't have their families anymore. Ismael told Esther that he didn't have a sister and she said to him that the beauty about starting a new family is that you get to pick who you want in your family. I felt a silence come within me because reading this made me understand that not too many people can pick their family. Your given your family with no "If's," "Ands," or "Buts." Your family is your family and that's that. It made me realize if I would ever want to pick my family and I came to the conclusion that I would want to pick my family because family is suppose to encourage you and support you no matter what. You aren't suppose to be distant from your family and that's exactly how I am with my mom and dad's side. I never talk to my cousins because they have their boyfriends, girlfriends, or friends over at family get togethers. It's only suppose to be family at family get togethers so you can grow closer and reunite a biological bond with one another. I would pick my family and my family would be my friends because they uplift me and care for how I'm doing in life's events that appear on my path. humans aren't suppose to be alone and Ismael developed such close knit relationships with people in a short amount of time that he has shown his care for them especially when they have died right in front of him.