Month: July 2010

In August, 1993, I found myself waiting in line at the post office in Split, Croatia. I was there as part of an international peace effort called Mir Sada (“Peace Now” in Serbo-Croatian). Yugoslavia was breaking up. Slovenia was the first to declare its independence, followed by Croatia. Bosnia proclaimed itself a multi-ethnic state and was being dismembered by Serbs and Croats. Millions of people were displaced, over 97,000 killed. The peace activists from 18 countries who made up Mir Sada hoped to set up a peace camp in the no-man’s land surrounding Sarajevo, the besieged capital of Bosnia.

Although this lofty goal was my broad purpose for being in the Adriatic port city, my specific purpose at that moment in Croatia was to buy a stamp to send a postcard to my wife. While waiting in line, I asked an English-speaking native next to me, “What’s the best way to say ‘thank you’ in Serbo-Croatian?” A stony silence fell upon the entire room until my formerly-friendly neighbor said, “There is no such language. We speak Croatian.” Fair enough. I pressed on, “So how do you say ‘thank you’ in Croatian?” “Hvala,” she replied. But I couldn’t let it go there, so I asked, “And how do they say it in Serbia?” Everyone looked a bit sheepish because the Serbs also say “hvala.”
Continue reading “Speak Out Against Bigotry”

Tatnuck, Worcester, Massachusetts.