A Long Way Gone

In Chapter 21, we learn that the soldiers were firing on a group of protestors and sendingtear gas into the crowd. Ishmael notes that he could not lose his temper because he was a civilian..... no longer a soldier. If he lost his temper with the soldiers, it would result in his death.

I was getting furious, but I tried to contain myself, because I knew I couldn’t afford to lose my temper. The result would be death, since I was now a civilian; I knew that.