Jaime Bedoya Martinez

The boy with a rifle and the fairy of salvation Jaime Bedoya Martinez

The boy with a rifle is a profound and timely criticism of youth engaged in senseless violence against nature. Their actions are often not by choice but rather the lack of prescribed choices. The author, Jaime Bedoya Martinez, vividly captures the chaotic energy of young boys as they explore their surroundings. As a passionate devotee of nature and its importance in our lives, Jaime describes the tragedy when idle thinking partners with human's tendency to destroy, not malevolently but blindly. The reader will agonize as school children -presumably innocent, sentient, moral- murder defenseless birds for the sake of playing a game and proving their worth. One is enraged by the lack of remorse these "monsters" show inflicting brutal pain?Mr. Bedoya's genius is his ability to provoke raw emotions in the reader and methodically disentangling one's preconception on the antagonist's motivation and beliefs. It is easy to be caught up in the morality of perceived sadism. The reality is that they are not acting out of sheer malevolence but rather their cruelty is beyond their personal control. Bedoya argues that their actions emanate from lack of conscience, adherence to blind tradition, and more importantly the hyper-nurturing of parents and limited discipline applied to modern youth. The writer poses that much of what lead us is grounded in a medieval past but parenting is applied in the modern belief that children should be protected at all costs. This paradoxical mindset is conflicted and has nurtured a culture of violence as a way to negotiate our experiences. This is when this writer leads to the moment of redemption available to all of us. For it is not through punishment but through an epiphany that leads the child protagonist, Patricio, to guide his friends to forgo killing for the virtue of respecting the living. By realizing the fault of their belief system, they are committed to destroying their tools of destruction. This new-found intellect does not go unnoticed, as a school teacher, mentor, wise man celebrates and fortifies their cause. When a magical deity appears and meshes all the emotions and passions provoked by this narrative, it becomes clear to Patricio and his friends the glory of living and letting live. They are led on an adventure in which they resurrect all the birds they have negligently killed and find the true joy of existence. The salient point of the book is that only through self-knowledge can one respect the living world around us. The book is a roller coaster of emotions and beliefs, what is clear at the conclusion is the need to make life decisions based on introspection rather than the habitual. For those in the business of education, parenting or any other activity in which mentoring is part of the mission, this is important and relevant work.