Bosnia vs Themselves

The sun was hot as I peered through the overcast sky as dozens of minarets scattered the city. A sudden bellow could be heard and then another and another as the prayer call started for the evening. “Allahu akbar” was the chant which ironically means "God is great" and which perplexed me a little from the history of the area. I thought how could God be great where religious and political fanatics claimed death in the name of God? I suppose the only answer to that is either I don’t understand the complete context of the Bosnian Genocide of 1992-1995 or I completely understand that racism and prejudice (which are not godlike qualities) had infiltrated the psyche of the main groups involved. While some were just fighting for survival and protection of their family others were fighting in the name of God as if there was a signed document to kill your neighbor. The more I wandered the sprawling city of Sarajevo the more I needed to focus on how great a city it used to be. I kept in mind that this was a stable state pre-1980 under the command of Tito (despite the fact that he divided Yugoslavia into six distinct administrative regions). After his death Slobodan Milosevic stepped in and took over presidency and in just four year Sarajevo was awarded the 1984 XIV Winter Olympic Games. The first time in fact that the Winter Games had ever took place in a Socialist country. But now things were different. I was amazed to see the crumbling buildings, pot holes on many streets, and almost every building with pieces of concrete missing from the obvious shrapnel and bullets. The hills and area surrounding (although green) were covered with thousands of deadly landmines waiting for some desperate or careless person to lose their way. The feeling of troubled history fizzled at the bottom of my soda as I sipped thoughtfully to find one proof that the war did not happen. The people (with the occasional legless or armless passing by) stared with wide eyes piercing my innocent soul as if to say "do you see". It was the lasting testimony as over 200,000 people were murdered, all in the name of difference. Even as we speak the former Yugoslav President Milosevic’s War Crimes Tribunal squeals insufficient funding stretching for the past 11 years. Will justice ever be seen, will people ever be held accountable. I suppose it all comes back to one of the main reason this war ever took place…God. He will be the judge and finalize any inconsistencies that have not yet been arranged. So in saying “God is great” we are least closer to the truth than realize.