Beautiful bridge destroyed by hate, rebuilt by hope | Whidbey News-Times

I have just returned from a fascinating trip through three countries in Central Europe: Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. And, of course, upon returning home, I was confronted with increasingly venomous letters from readers to the editor of this newspaper, our national government, which is in chaos and unable to function, and some pretty harsh accusations hurled at the election campaigns here on the Rock. All this rancor got me thinking about what I learned during my visit to these Balkan countries where neighbors have hated each other for centuries because of religion and land ownership, among other things.

This has led people there to a series of wars, the most recent of which occurred in 1993-1996, when Bosnia especially' 'has suffered a terrible loss of life and destruction. Bosnia is indeed a meeting point between east and west: one-third of the population is Muslim, the result of the conquest of the entire area by the Ottoman Empire in the Middle Ages; another third is Serbian Orthodox Christian because of the large Serbian community; and another third professes the Roman Catholic faith, which belongs to the Croatian population in Bosnia. Yugoslavia, a benign dictatorship, united all the Balkan peoples and kept the peace for 40 years after World War II. But then Yugoslavia broke up and old grievances resurfaced, leading to the 1993-1996 war. Croatia feared that Bosnian Muslims were trying to take Croatian territory;' 'Serbia feared Bosnia and Croatia were preying on Serbian territory.

This brings me to our visit to Mostar earlier this month, a beautiful Bosnian city of about 60,000 people on the banks of the Neretva River. One of the first things we noticed was the many ruined buildings left unrepaired nearly 30 years after the war ended, including one across from the hotel where we were staying. We walked around the most famous place in Mostar: its "old bridge," built in the 16th century by one of the Ottoman sultans. The bridge is called Stari Most, and thanks to it, the city of Mostar got its name. We watched young Bosnian men jump off the Old Bridge into the river in exchange for money from tourists. At night the bridge is beautiful' 'Illuminated, it's the perfect place for lovers to meet.

All of this makes me worry about what can' 'bring our own divisions and anger. Imagine that some acrimonious element could blow up our 'old bridge' across the Strait of Deception. Would we have enough hope and unity to rebuild it? I hope so, yes. But I definitely pray that our problems here on the Rock never lead to what I saw in Mostar. Let's focus on what we love about this place, not what divides us.

Harry Anderson is a former journalist who worked for the Los Angeles Times and now lives on Central Whidbey.

The restored bridge at night.

• Restored bridge at night.