This I Believe

Widening My Backyard

When Slobodan Milosevic died in his cell at The Hague I was at home sick. On any other Saturday I would’ve been at work, helping to cover a story that has shaped my interests and how I view the world.

In 1998, three years after the Dayton Peace Accords ended the war in Bosnia, I traveled to Sarajevo on behalf of my university. I’d just been diagnosed with an intestinal disease and was recovering from a liver transplant. Such a trip seemed ill timed. I was still weak and depressed. But I wanted to be a part of something larger than myself. So, I left the comfort of my own backyard and headed to a region recovering from the worst war in Europe since WWII.

Weekdays I worked at Radio ZID helping to promote a benefit concert. Weekends were spent on the beaches of Croatia, but one Sunday, I accompanied peacekeeping troops to a refugee camp outside Sarajevo. Nothing could’ve prepared me for such a trip.

I was to pass out cheese to survivors of a genocide thatdrawn on a map. If we are to experience peace, we must widen our backyards, moving beyond our national borders so we can learn from one another. When we do, we become freer. My experience in Bosnia led me to question my politics, and it is also where I spent my most patriotic Fourth of July holiday. On foreign soil, political and religious freedoms took on new meaning. They were experiences I couldn’t have had at home.

I left Bosnia determined not to let my illnesses limit me and convinced that I would become a journalist. I believe in the importance of being a traveler, in moving beyond one’s national borders. And if I am to ever fully understand my place in this world, I believe I must first begin to explore it.