This is not going to be an upper post. But at least I'm blogging again. I extended my stay in Sarajevo. Despite the fact that I am currently compiling information for a genocide case and have already been here for 3 weeks, today the reality of the war and the atrocities finally hit. Today I went on a walk because I realized I've been studying too much. When I realized I was still focusing on the war too much and tried to see the city without thinking about the siege, I immediately tripped in a hole left from an explosion 17-20 years ago. I started thinking about the atrocities of recent memory in America. Twelve people were killed in Colorado and they're talking about it here in Bosnia. 9/11 killed about 3,000 people. Hurricane Katrina killed 1836 people.

Sarajevo was under siege for 4 years and over 10,000 people died. That's just in this city. In Srebrenica, 8,000 people died. Because the bodies were buried in mass graves and then later dug up and reburied to try to hide what happened, exhumations are under way to identify people's remains through DNA analysis. Every year on the anniversary of the genocide, they bury the bodies they have found. This year they buried 520 people 17 years later. 

And what gets me, is that both Hurricane Katrina and 9/11 struck close to home for me, literally. Think about how the death of 3,000 people has affected our country. I mean I realize that it was also the nature of the attack, but Bosnians had a war waged in throughout their country. Can you imagine? I can't.

The thing is, this never could have happened in America. After 9/11 we had so much world sympathy for our tragedy that we were able to start two wars in defense of ourselves. I'm not criticizing either war or diminishing what happened to us. But this city was under siege for 4 years and nothing effective was done. Even when the UN was here, they were not effective. (And my boss used to work as someone who handled cases of abuse by UN humanitarian aid workers and that is just another entirely depressing subject.) I don't think Americans in general really understand what happened here. In the movie Hotel Rwanda Joaquin Phoenix said that when Americans saw the footage of the war there (where 800,000 people died and they don't do exhumations in part because there were just too many dead), they would shake their heads and say how sad it is, and then go back to eating their dinner.

And look at Syria right now. I mean this stuff is still happening all the time.

I don't know the answer to the problem. The only thing I can think of is a suggestion by Romeo Dallaire. He was the Commander of the UN peacekeeping mission in Rwanda and he is a rock star in the human rights community. I got to hear Romeo Dallaire speak at a book reading/signing at Politics and Prose in DC. He suggested that every young person be required to go to a developing or post-conflict country to experience what it's like. Even if it's just for a week or two. That's all I can think of. Maybe more awareness to young people could help. Plus, I don't think in general Americans really realize how much we have.

As a side note, we also have really plush furniture in comparison to any other country I've been to. Everywhere else has firm pillows, mattresses, and couches. I've always wondered why this is.

But I think it's this kind of exposure that could change the world. Something like Birthright should be created for every country. As we're all part of the human race, and globalization is making the world smaller, we should have a birth right to experience a different part of the world without expense. It's not currently realistic, but I'm sure people didn't think something like Peace Corps could be possible until it actually got started. Yeah, someone should get on that.

Lol. The whole attitude of "someone should do that" or "someone else should get on that" is a big part of the problem, too.