My name is Boris Pavlovic, I live in Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina. At the time I am writing this essay I am 18 years old. Recently I have attended the Youth Reconciliation Ambassadors program and this is my opinion on the topic of the regional reconciliation. Starting off Tuzla, the city I was born in and have lived my whole life, is a liberal community. Some say the most liberal in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I have been raised in a multicultural community and I have grown amongst Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs without knowing the real difference between them, so I can say that I was lucky. As I grew my borders started expanding onto nearby areas, other cities and even countries. Soon I started noticing something strange. I noticed that people behaved differently after I told them my name. And not long after I found out why. The war that had devastated our countries left a much bigger damage. People that lived alongside peacefully for years could no longer stand each other. The land they all loved suddenly became scarred by invisible borders, and the minds of the people were even more divided. I didn’t consider this my problem because it didn’t effect me that much so I lived with it for quite a while. I did mind it, but I had no way of changing thousands, even millions of others, so I didn’t bother to. As I got older I met more and more people, young people that were my peers, teenagers that were born after the war. But there was something strange about them. They weren’t like me. We didn’t share the same opinions about the harmonic lifestyle of living. I was introduced to strong attitudes that were the opposite of those that I had. I tried to understand them but I just could not. The reason could be the fact that I was raised in a completely different society and had no reason to hate anyone. Trough many conversations, arguments, debates and fights I soon realized that hate is a strong emotion that can’t be talked out of. It was much stronger than the common sense. The topic of reconciliation became more and more interesting for me. I attended a few seminars on that topic and learned about as much as I could. Then came the Youth Reconciliation Ambassadors seminar. There I met a lot of wonderful people. People that didn’t necessarily share my opinions but gave me insight about their side of the “story”. I’ve learned that history is also perceived differently by different people. That there is a thin line between a hero and a villain, and that in war there are no victors. The amazing amount of knowledge this seminar had offered me lead me to a conclusion. Attitudes are personal things. We all have subjective attitudes towards certain things. A solution for the negative attitudes our countrymen and countrywomen guide towards each other is not solvable by a general method and it is different for every person. Each individual must resolve the hate withing themselves, realize the truth, inform themselves, and then judge based on the facts they learn. To stand up for their opinion and be brave to say YES when everyone else says NO. Our job as the Reconciliation Ambassadors is to provide individuals anything they need to achieve that. Whether it is the information, insight, our experiences or just acceptance and support for those who are ready to take the first step and not hate. This is a long process, but given enough time anyone can change, and become a Reconciliation Ambassador in their society. So I invite you to educate yourself and others, to be persistent and open minded, to be understanding and supportive, to be a Reconciliation Ambassador.
My name is Boris Pavlovic, I am a Youth Reconciliation Ambasador and I refuse to hate.
