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How Are You, Amidst This Mess?
Are you well? You need a hug? I certainly do…
It took me almost two years to get a grip on the pandemic, and now I feel like it’s March 2020 all over again. The insecurity, the fear, sometimes outright panic, clouded thoughts, the whole vibe… It’s so fucked up.
I live in Slovenia, which is about 500km away from Ukraine. Only Hungary separates my country from one of the messiest conflicts in recent history. Yes, I’m aware of Syria, Lebanon, South Sudan, Afghanistan, and all the rest. But this one just has a much sicker vibe to it. You know, nuclear power plants, and shit. And also what Umair writes.
Then again, I do remember having a war at our doorstep. I was perhaps too young to fully understand the wars in the Balkans. I was 10 when it erupted. It didn’t take long until the Bosnia and Herzegovina’s (BiH) refugees started arriving. Boys and girls were assigned to our schools, and we got new schoolmates. Their mothers probably still had suitcases packed in the hallway while they watched their kids finish first primary school, then high school, and lastly some of them even a university.
Most of them never returned.
My best friends during the student years in Ljubljana were ex-refugees from BiH. I’m forever thankful for all the hours we’ve spent together. I…
