My Hope for the New Yugoslavia.

Sitting in my living room reading the newspaper, I was surprised to learn that the Yugoslav people stormed the parliament building last month and forced Yugoslavia's heartless dictator, Slobodan Milosevic, to leave office. I never expected him to step down without more bloodshed and turmoil. I am from Bosnia, once a part of Yugoslavia, and like many Bosnians, I hold him responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians in my country, as well as the upheaval in my own life.

When war erupted in Yugoslavia in 1992, I was just 9 years old and had no real idea of the danger we were in. My family was forced to leave home. A family friend who owned a bus company volunteered to drive me to safety in Germany, where my grandmother lived. I was alone on the bus, with complete strangers. I remember a huge line of buses, full of Yugoslav refugees, anxious to get as far from the war as possible. My mother and father eventually joined me, and later we moved to Los Angeles, where I live now.

It is very sad when you grow up in a big family and it gets taken away so quickly. In Bosnia, the ravages of war brought families much closer together. To be separated by continents now is very harsh. In March, I revisited my homeland for the first time in eight years. My trip was bittersweet, because I had to take flowers to my grandmother's grave for the first time in my life. Also, I realized how many people had profited from the war, stealing from those who had to evacuate.

American teens miss out on the importance of showing affection, which they should give to their family. They focus on succeeding only in their careers, rather than balancing career and family. They think that America is the best country to live in. Perhaps it is, materialistically speaking, but my experience tells me there is nothing more fulfilling than a content family together.

Under President Vojislav Kostunica, a former Belgrade University law professor, I earnestly hope that the misery of the Balkan people has finally ended and a new dawn has risen. I put enormous trust in the hands of Kostunica to return peace and normalcy to the devastated country, to make Yugoslavia how it was before the Milosevic holocaust.

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