Srebrenica

Fair warning: This is going to be kind of a downer post. This is not me being negative, it's just a fact that if you aren't a downer about visiting a place where a genocide occurred, then you should probably get some counseling. Yesterday, we went to Srebrenica. And yes, I will say that I was looking forward to it, probably more than I should've been. It's just that as a human rights student who is studying war crimes and genocide and torture, it seemed like the kind of place that I needed to visit in order to validate my interests. I've never been to a location like that; I needed to see if I could actually deal with something that intense.

Well...I dealt with it. I'm still processing, and I'll probably always be processing. I suppose I should be thankful that I can't wrap my head around how something like that is possible. And there's really no way to put into words how I felt being there. I had the foresight to take a video while I was there to record how I was feeling, and my plan was to upload it here, but of course, the Bosnian internet didn't enjoy that much. All I can say is that it is a highly humbling and powerful feeling to stand in the place where thousands of people said their last goodbyes to their families, and minutes later were murdered en masse. It was really hard to smile while we were there.

To be honest, when I hear the rumors that the Bosnians are going to declare war on Serbia in the very near future, I find it hard to get upset. I just hope they can hold it together for another three weeks.