What Coming in 2nd Means to Croatia
Nismo prvi ali smo najbolji ❤” (Translation: “Now what?
We are not the first but we are the best. ❤)
The first time I visited Croatia, I attended a Thompson concert with my husband. It was smaller than expected, like many things in this country of 4.5 million people, but it was otherwise everything that you would expect when attending the concert of a much-loved singer / songwriter: the loud speakers, the flashing stage lights, the call for one more song. But what I didn’t expect to see was something I’ve yet to see in the States: the depth of their loyalty and brotherhood, their patriotism, which was spurred on by Thompson’s songs about national pride, love, and of course, loss and war.
It’s easy for us to forget, from our stance in this country, that a war brewed, boiled, and took over former-Yugoslavia. It’s even easier for us to forget, perhaps, that those who lived through it — now residing in Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, and sprinkled across the globe — are still healing. Their children are being born into a piece of what was once a larger country, torn over religious affiliations and artificial calendar dates, and some of that country is still physically full of bullet-holes, broken relationships, and lost businesses. But what I saw at that concert wasn’t a reflection of hate or division: it was love and connection in spite of a decade-long war. Perhaps even because of it.
All around me was a swirl of people either singing along with Thompson on that…
