Mostar

t

08.04.07

I'm in Mostar, Bosnia and the weather is perfect- warm with a breeze.  I'm having a glass of wine enjoying the Turkish bridge.  This city is really interesting and beautiful in a way I have never seen before.  It's a tragic and intense place.  There are buildings totally blown out next to lovely new buildings.  Bullet holes cover all buildings not yet restored.  The bullet holes are centered around all the windows of the homes and buildings.  I just wonder how many people died here.  The second worst fighting on the war happened between the two sides of this river- just meters apart.  How much blood and hate filled these waters for what amounted to nothing.  The people still all live here together.  It makes me physically ill to see and think about this much destruction and hate and lost lives.

This city rests in a mountain valley with a cross perched above the minurets of the mosques.  People seem to be living prosperously (in the eye of the traveler) around the constant reminders of war.  I can't help but think of the way Iraq must be and the deeply-rooted anger and hate.  Why does it have to be like this?

I am amazed at the amount of restoration and the spirit of the people after living through such horror.  Especially with the incessant visuals of the past.  With the number of graveyards filled with their fathers, sons, brothers, husbands.  I've never been in a place with such a recent disaster and it really makes me think about the human race and the direction we're heading