Best of the Week: Amir's Life in Afghanistan

This week there were many discussion points that I thought were noteworthy, the point I thought was one of the most insightful was the one made when discussing Afghanistan's history in relation to Amir. I think that this extremely important point impacts not only Amir's point of view, but how his life plays out. As a child, Amir grows up in Soviet Afghanistan, and as he matures he ends up in Taliban Afghanistan.

This idea of Amir experiencing two entirely different versions of Afghanistan, almost two countries in the same place in one lifetime. I think that this impacts Amir's life in multiple ways throughout the book, living under two completely different regimes with opposite ideals. This concept makes me think about the impact on children who would have grown up at the same time as Amir, and lived through the exchange of power. It made me think about the other wars, genocides and horros that have befallen many parts of the world because of one person who has an idea and imposes it onto their inferiors and rallies support.

This idea of two different worlds within one lifetime connects to many stories I've read, and the things I believe about them. For example, in The Little Princess, Sara is forced from a life of privilige to one of poverty and suffering, much like Amir when he encounters the Russian soldiers. I believe that these ruptures in government and society can forever damage a child's mind, therefore directly affecting them for the rest of their lives, much like the child soldiers who were turned from innocent beings to gun-toting terrifying members of society.

I can see myself using this concept not very far in the future; this concept of regimes and lives not only changing but being turned around within one moment. I see this idea coming to play in my life in the international work I want to do, helping out children and families whose lives have been so terribly changed by these moments, whose lives are split between the good days before and the bad ones after. I hope that by the time I would come to do this work I would be able to fully understand this phenomena to work against it and prevent it from ruining the lives of millions because of one prejudiced being.