A Long Way Gone

In the end all Ismael has left is to embrace the memories of love so freely given to him in the past (Mom, dad, grandmother...) and accept the love freely offered him in the present (UNICEF, Laura Simms...) Ishmael can't hold on to the hate and fear any longer, they are not lifelines rather than weights that will sink him. For once, he realizes that someone will care if he lives or dies. Far away from the civil war, Beah's life has meaning again. In New York, also meets storyteller Laura Simms who offers him a lifeline out of Sierra Leone - which he eventually takes.