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Autobiography Of Pai Harris Research Paper

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My name is Pai Harris; I was born in West Africa, Liberia. And I have a story to tell. This story is some of my memories from my childhood. All the memories from my early childhood are still vivid. One of my earliest memories, and the most horrifying one, was the civil war that took place in West Africa when I was a child. A war that destroyed the country left us homeless and with a painful scar in the heart of the people that experienced it. Even though I was about seven and the half, I remember seeing people being killed in front of me and male children who were about eight and above being ripped from the arms of their parents so that they could join the war. Parents were crying here and there wondering where their children were and if …show more content…

People who came from different lands to trade and were not citizens were killed because they spoke different languages. For many days my family walked from one town to another, looking for safe place for us to hide. We would often have no food or pure water to drink. We ate leftovers that people didn’t eat and drink from a little lake that was full of dead bodies, without us knowing that the water was polluted. My mother kept saying she didn’t care if she ate or drank; all that mattered was the safety and health of the children. Most days we would walk until we found food and drink, and when night came we slept by the road side regardless the condition of the road. My mother would look at her feet and cry because they were covered with blisters from walking for many days. For weeks our lives hung in the balance. We would be petrified whenever we heard a gunshots or someone screaming, worried that we could next. We saw gruesome acts where we couldn’t believe our own eyes, such as soldiers killing the young children in front of us if they found out that the parents were hiding things such as weapon, or people who didn’t belongs.. What made it even more shocking was that they did it in front of the parents of those children that they …show more content…

We sometimes try to push the past into the back of our mind and pretend that it doesn’t exist, but those memories are ultimately unforgettable and a part of us that we can’t change. When I look back on those memories, it almost feels like I’m reliving them again. I can still hear the noise of people screaming and yelling for their loved ones, being killed, or being taken against their will. Those I saw lost, whether killed or kidnapped, were gone forever. When you see such a thing in large numbers, it can be very difficult to process. There sometimes comes a time in our life when we face great pains and sorrows; a time where we may give up our beliefs and say there is no life for a better tomorrow. God blesses us with a mind in which we keep all of our memories, ones that are good and ones that are painful. We sometimes try to enjoy the good memories and keep the painful one in the back of our suppressed. Even though as painful and hurtful my memories is not reflected upon, there is nothing that we can do to actually change it or make it go away. All that is really left for us to do is to accept it and move on with our life. We cannot change the past or make the memories of my past any better; we can just try to use them to help appreciate the present circumstances more. I try to use my memories in a positive way by striving to live a better life, and live my dream such as being a actor some day in Hollywood and be thankful that I had

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