Review: Running for My Life: One Lost Boy's Journey from the Killing Fields of Sudan to the Olympic Games

Running for My Life: One Lost Boy's Journey from the Killing Fields of Sudan to the Olympic Games by Lopez Lomong
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was a big change of pace from the reading I have done since midsummer. I picked this book to honor my mom, Myrtle, who passed away almost exactly one year ago today. How could a 90 year old woman, broken by dementia, have inspired me to read this book?

Well, until cognitive decline took away all of her senses, she used to watch sports. Lots of sports. I never understood why. I asked, often: "Why are you watching so many football games, basketball games, track and field events, Mom?" She'd reply in her pithy, Myrtle voice: "Honey, these athletes are the only people on TV who are actually doing something. They aren't fake. They're real. Look at that girl run! Look at that guy kick! Everything else you will watch today will be rehearsed and made up, but not this. This is real. They're real people doing real things."

So, to please Myrtle I decided to read a book about a real person who did a real thing. Ok, an amazing real thing.

This is a book about a six year old boy, Lopez Lomong, who was (quite literally) torn from his mother's arms during an outdoor church service in Sudan. He was kidnapped to be trained to be a soldier - a killer - in the civil war which ravaged his country. Half-starved, miraculously, he escaped and ended up in a refugee camp in Kenya. For 10 years .

Reading this man's story brings a whole new perspective on what it means to overcome adversity, and in light of today's bubbling cauldron of social justice issues, it should be required reading. Really.

It was so humbling. After all that he went through, one can hear in his words an abiding faith in God, an astounding gratitude, and his hope and belief in humanity. David Brooks, in his book The Road to Characterdescribed people who have acquired a strong foundation, a powerful backbone, a deep and steadfast character, as individuals "who are inclined in all ways to be useful to others and to the world" . This perfectly describes Lopepi. He never stopped striving to be useful to the world, to achieve good things, to do the right things, and to always try his very best in everything he set out to do. This book contained no words of remorse, anger, hostility, or resentment. He never talked about being forgotten, written-off, or diminished. (He was presumed dead, and he learned that his family and his village buried the few articles of clothing left behind a few years after he was taken.)

While in a refuge camp, he happened to see clips of Michael Johnson setting an Olympic record. He was already running 18 miles a day; this he did in order to be able to play soccer. Seeing Michael Johnson, a man who looked like him, win a gold medal for the USA, filled him with a joyful dream which he clung to with real happiness. He wanted to run in the Olympics.

The voice of Lopepi in the book is simple and earnest. It is a quick and easy read. The events are told as they unfolded, year-by-year. It is a book which can appeal to any age.

During the worst times of his life, his unconquerable spirit prevailed. I felt completely renewed by reading his amazing odyssey. How could it still be possible to feel put upon when the dishwasher won't drain properly or when my internet is slow? Myrtle, thank you for guiding me to reading this particular book. It is exactly what I needed. Maybe you, too, need this kind of inspiration?



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