Journal 6: Josh

The character that meant the most to me would probably have to be Allie. As Ishmael is taken in by Uncle Tommy and his family Allie is the one that truly tries to get Ishmael out and be a kid again. "If you to be a gentleman, you have to dress like one. He laughed. I was about to ask him why he had given me these things when he began to explain: " this is a secret. I want to take you to a dance tonight so you can enjoy yourself. We will leave after Uncle goes to bed" (Beah 183).  This this part of the chapter stuck out to me a lot because I feel like event though he is a little older than Ishmael he understands what Ishmael needs to move on and forget about the past. Even though Ishmael gets one of his flashbacks at the dance, Allie is really making an effort to help him in his time of need.

I think Ishmael's rehabilitation is possible but only time will tell. I have done some research on PTSD in the past and one thing that I have learned is that it varies with people on how long it lasts. It can last up to one month of an event happening up to the remainder of one's life. As much as I don't want to say it, I probably wouldn't want him moving into my neighborhood. Especially if I had a family of my own because you wouldn't know when a triggered thought might happen and there have been cases of people with PTSD that kill people because of their triggered flashbacks. One example of this happening is when Navy Seal Sniper and author of "American Sniper" Chris Kyle and his friend were shot by a man who had PTSD. Kyle and His friend had taken him to a gun range in an attempt to help the man cope with his condition. As much as I hate saying it, I probably wouldn't want Ishmael moving into my neighborhood. Even though it seems he does not get violent when his flashbacks are triggered you never know if that will change.

A lesson I took away from this book especially in these last few chapters is never giving up. Most people struggle a lot with PTSD and can't get away from this condition. It seems like Ishmael is trying his best to fight the horrible things from this past a lot better than what I initially thought before reading these last few chapters.

One thing that this book got me wondering more about some more facts about PTSD. I did a little research and I found some I popping facts. One thing that I found out was that on average 5 active duty troops try to commit suicide each day. The national survey of Children's exposure to violence reports that 60.6% of children have witnessed or been victimized in the past year.

This Chris Kyle who suffered from PTSD. He was also shot by a veteran he was helping that had PTSD. 

 More interesting facts about PTSD