Journal 7 by Brittney Hanks

Even though uncle Tommy has been in his life for about two weeks, but has made such a impact on Ishmael its truly amazing. Taking him in and calling him "son" truly meant a lot to Ishmael. Ishmael has no family left that he knows of. So knowing that he has some family even though he just met him still means a lot to Ishmael. Ishmael know things are changing and for the better and that's a great thing to know for him after the struggle he has gone through.I feel that Ishmael is trying to change for the better being a better person and trying to over come the past of everything that has happened to him over the past couple years. Being part of  the rebels has given him a hard life to handle, because he has  PDSD and its coming back to him and giving him night mares on some things in life. Its possible for him to change and I think he will because he has a new family and is going to the U.N. to speak about what he has been through. I don't think I would like a rebel living by me. Its like they chose to go behind the backs of our country and were killing people of there own town and didn't feel bad. The trust was broken and will never be able to get back. So no I wouldn't want someone like him living by me.

One of my favorite parts of my reading was in chapter 18 when he meets his uncle. The light in the eyes of the two men seemed to be so powerful they seemed to be some what complete. knowing they still had blood family alive. The quote that stuck to me when I was reading was " like I said, we cannot go back. but we can start from here. I am your family and this is enough for us to begin liking each other." It was just truly amazing that  after all the bad he got his family back and was able to try to have something left of his child hood.

It truly hit home for me with Ishmael being close and getting a family. I am very close to my family and family means everything to me. Also you are starting to see that Ishmael is getting that closeness as well.