Last night I had the pleasure of attending an author talk at the Darwin City Library – it was Osamah Sami, author of “A Good Muslim Boy”.

I was keen to hear it because a part of my heart belongs in the Middle East. The land of my childhood.

The Muslim kids of my childhood are not what we read about in the press. The Muslim people I know are all kind, generous individuals. So you can see how the title of Osamah’s book was bound to have caught my eye.

Now here is a man who knows how to use words. His first language was Arabic, but his English (learnt after he came to Australia as a 13 year old) is fluent. Yes, there’s a trace of accent, but that’s what makes us all unique – our accents.

It’s a shame there were not more attendees, but the audience was appreciative of what Osamah shared.  He read excerpts from his book, and it had us in fits of laughter at times and at other points; I think it safe to say that we were all deeply moved by the horrific and unimaginable experiences he suffered.

I guess the sad thing is that Osamah’s tale of living in a war zone is not unique. Although the way he has told his story is absolutely unique. In the book, he shares real and raw experiences – yes, I stayed up late last night reading it. He’s a skilled storyteller, and it’s a well-paced easy-to-read book.

Our world, and us as human beings, have committed so many atrocities. I think what makes it worse for me is that these things continue to happen.

Surely to goodness, we ought to have learnt our lessons from history? Yet, it seems we have not evolved enough. We keep repeating the same patterns.

Hmm – as I get older, I get more frustrated with how we seem to be bounding ahead with technology, and yet humanity seems to be going out the window.

Hiding behind a keyboard, feeling the need to “conform” with popular (or at least what your circle seems to think is right) seems to be reaching epidemic proportions.

What happened to grit, courage and having a backbone? Have we all gone soft?

We live in an affluent Western country, yet it seems that those with less have more moral fibre than those with more.

His father faced many challenges, yet he retained a positive attitude and a strong sense of what was the right thing to do despite all the setbacks and despite public opinion and pressures.

We hear these kinds of stories time after time. It’s encouraging. There is hope, and we each have a part to play in keeping that flame flickering.

Michelle