Review: once we were strangers by Shawn Smucker

The United States was founded by immigrant families, but in this day and age with all the terrorism we seem to be afraid to have immigrants continue to come to the US.  Once we were strangers is a wonderful story about a friendship. A friendship between a struggling writing in the US and a Syrian refugee new to this country.  Muhammad and his family fled their village in Syria in 2012.  Several years later he meets Shawn Smucker in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  As Shawn and Muhammad spent time together a friendship starts to emerge. For those born and raised in America it's hard to imagine having to flee your home because it is no longer safe. It's hard to imagine that in your new home you struggle to communicate with others because you don't speak the language.  It's hard to imagine leaving behind everything to flee and keep your family safe.

Muhammad's story truly touched me and truly made me wonder how I'd react to a Syrian refugee family moving in next to me. Would I reach out to them and offer friendship or would I ignore them as we so often do in this day and age. I like to think that I would offer whatever help that I could despite the language and cultural barriers.  I think what we all need to remember is that we could some day be a refugee in another country and wouldn't we want someone to reach out to us? Reading Muhammad's story about how he and his wife both worked in a dry cleaners to be able to take care of their boys. How hard it was when they wanted to move because even though they had paid their rent on time for an entire year most people didn't want to rent to a Syrian refugee. Muhammad reminded us through his story that people don't take the time for coffee and conversation like they once did. Once we were strangers is a truly moving story about a friendship between two men and really between two families that pushed through all cultural barriers.  

Shawn Smucker lives with his wife and children in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  He has also written The Day the Angels Fell as well as The Edge of Over There He can be found on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ as well as his blog.

**I received this book free from Revell for my honest review.**