In 1992, the bombs began to rain onto Sarajevo. Exploding out of the hills that surround the Bosnian city, the mortars held captive tens of thousands of people for three years, as rebel Serbs used bombs and snipers to try to send the people of Sarajevo back to the Dark Ages.
As their city crumbled, people began to value food, water and loved ones above all else. Waiting for hours in line for clean water or a crust of confiscated bread, they never knew what the sky would bring.
Their horizon held death.
Last Wednesday, so did ours.
It was the Three-Hundred-Tornado Storm, the most violent weather event anyone in this area can recall. Hundreds dead and untold damage to property. Thousands of people who huddled in closets, hid in bathtubs, clung to children, spouses and pets will mark last Wednesday as the most frightening moment of their entire lives.