The why of it:
Lawlor, Gail M.
Gavrilo Princip, shot Archduke Ferdinand on June 28, 1914, an act that precipitated World War I. The guide referred to Princip In keeping with Commonweal's usual schedule, only as a...
...should weigh on the consciences of all those who continue to Sarajevo reminds us that New York or Chicago or San argue against military intervention...
...Three words, three versions of Princip's motives...
...When our fourth pregnancy was announced, there was With the advent of No...
...A cello player defied the mayhem and the snipers by performThose means include the everyday civilities that make life ing daily in a public square...
...By now, with the appropriate "oohs" and "ahs" and seemed to feel the older children were aware of some attention...
...8, some folks seemed numb while some consternation, but most people adopted the "they're others degenerated into subtle avoidance...
...GAIL M. LAWLOR time was: "Now you've had your girl...
...many stares...
...Basically, we wanted a large family, gular, "Why...
...These are people who have lived for generations, sharing ing doors open...
...5. At The why of it this time and on through the births of Nos...
...But in 1968, we could reflect on shift the physical and spiritual landscape of my everyday life...
...The remark most frequently heard at this children-to make people happy...
...Michael and I were Gail M. La i'lor is a free-lance writer from Wantage, unaware that there was a quota...
...The continuing international failure to end the siege ical infrastructures that keep a city humming...
...To destroy Sarajevo, its citizens, and their way of life is to Sarajevo under siege shows how fragile our civilities are even destroy the very means upon which negotiation, accommoda- in the presence of great personal courage...
...The siege of Sarajevo re- MARGARET O'BRIEN STEINFELS Bewilderment set in because we weren't at all sure that we were finished, so a somewhat longer time elapsed before announcing the fact that we were expecting No...
...Under sniper fire, tions, and ultimately peace can be reached among the tribes the Sarajevo zoo keeper fed the animals until the last bear died...
...6 and 7, friends, neighbors, and family expressed a mix of dismay, regret, IP eople have often asked why Michael and and antagonism...
...referred to as an "assassin," and finally another student, of a very conservative cast, retold the tale using the word "terrorist...
...and warring factions of the former Yugoslavia...
...taking the extra half-step to placate, However history finally weighs the morality of the war to accommodate, to negotiate the irritations, the confrontations, against Iraq, the liberation of the citizens of Kuwait City ought the injustices-small and large-of public life...
...When the information was repeated by one French one issue is published each month during July and student to a less attentive member of our group, Princip was August...
...carrying a pregnant woman down the fire stairs and nationalism...
...A visit to that we had fulfilled our duty to God, country, and soci- the local McDonald's produced pointed inquiries and ety-at-large...
...Gavrilo Princip, shot Archduke Ferdinand on June 28, 1914, an act that precipitated World War I. The guide referred to Princip In keeping with Commonweal's usual schedule, only as a "patriot...
...However, a very trying for a girl" attitude...
...and discuss all of those interpretations peacefully and with a (Certainly one of the most disturbing and contested points of sense of irony at our experience of "living history," all the while American policy remains the degree to which Iraqi civilians admiring the city's charm and its urbane attitude toward this were subjected to death and disease by the bombing of bridges, past...
...It was in Sarajevo, I realize, that for the first time I woke electrical grids, and other infrastructure in Baghdad, seemingto the sound of the muezzin's call to morning prayer...
...dry feeling the world was once again safe from our pro- And there lies the real reason Michael and I had nine creative talents...
...We stu- minds me, a city dweller, how siege and snipers, how hauling dents were reminded that history is complex and not easily settled water and foraging for food, how death and privation would as to cause or consequence...
...And of course, to weigh heavily in passing judgment on our decision to go civic life includes the more elaborate political, social, and phys- to war...
...Francisco could be in similar straits...
...The next issue will be dated July 16...
...Michael and I weathered these reactions with and over the years, we had some difficulty defining "large...
...giving way in pedestrian gridlock...
...child was born: people suddenly became hysterical with and presumably returned to their lawns, dishes, and laun- side-splitting laughter as they counted our progeny...
...In fact, she was born, and these curious phenomenon developed when our ninth and final same people slapped us on the back with a "Good job...
...maintain- a city and a form of life that are being torn from their mooring, ing a flower garden in the park for the enjoyment of the from the civilities of everyday life by the demons of tribalism neighborhood...
...Some were mute, and others uttered a sinI had nine children...
...the children began to ask, "Why...
...Destroying cities of Sarajevo and other cities and towns in Bosnia-Herzegovina and city dwellers destroys all this...
...ly for military purposes but with significant collateral damage...
...Nurses and doctors work to stem possible among city dwellers...
...some chagrin, still somewhat confused as to why our famAfter our first three boys were born, people greeted us ily size was a matter of such pressing concern...
...at the World Trade Center...
...Commonweal 18 June 1993: 5...
...New Jersey...
...for example, the New Yorkers I the flow of blood, but they cannot stop the shells and the bulsee every day-the ones that don't make the headlines-hold- lets...
Vol. 120 • June 1993 • No. 12
