Civil War: Christmas in Sarajevo

You’ve heard that Trans Siberian Orchestra song a zillion times, am I right?

I know I sure have. It’s a staple of the “light display house guys” and dancing light displays everywhere, and it’s in heavy rotation on radio stations.

Here’s something things that, unless you are a fan of obscure 1980’s and 1990 heavy metal bands you probably didn’t know:

1. This song isn’t by Trans Siberian Orchestra at all, it’s by the metal band Savatage.
2. The song is part of a concept album about the civil war in the former Yugoslavia, specifically the winter battleground that the town of Sarajevo became.
3. The album, “Dead Winter Dead”, does an excellent job of displaying the tragedy that a civil war is to the society being torn apart.
4. The pretty little Christmas song is actually about a real person (the celloist you hear in the opening) playing out in the open as snipers killed people left and right.

The Siege Of Sarajevo

While this isn’t a history lesson on this particular civil war, here’s an expert from Wikipedia so that you know a bit more about what’s going on if you don’t remember it.

“The Siege of Sarajevo was the siege of the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the longest of a capital city in the history of modern warfare. After being initially besieged by the forces of the Yugoslav People’s Army, Sarajevo was besieged by the Army of Republika Srpska from 5 April 1992 to 29 February 1996 (1,425 days) during the Bosnian War. The siege lasted three times longer than the Battle of Stalingrad and more than a year longer than the Siege of Leningrad.”

The Intoxicating idea of righting perceived wrongs

Spice and I were eating at a restaurant a couple of days ago when this song came on the sound system. At that very minute, I put down my fork and looked around and thought about Sarajevo, how neighbors turned on neighbors and fought a fight that had been simmering in the background there for more than a thousand years… 

There’s a lot more to a civil war, of course, than people wanting to “get even” for past transgressions and insults. In fact, a lot of pretty much every civil war (including our own) is nothing more than warlords and power brokers looking to seize control, and using greed to do it. 

Savatage shares the brilliant lines in the song “I Am” on Dead Winter Dead:

“Is this the answer to our prayers, is this what God has sent? Please understand this isn’t what we meant!”

Civil wars never work out like the people who start them want… and make no mistake, there are people who want to start civil wars.

If a war takes off and runs, they are always far bigger, far more costly in lives and treasure, and the cost to innocent lives is horrific beyond compare. 

Yet there are people out there who are hoping for a civil war in just about every country on the Earth.

The headline above, “Is this the answer to our prayers, is this what God has sent? Please understand this isn’t what we meant” could also be said about any civil war. Look back at our own, and think about the people in Georgia and South Carolina as they stood next to the smoking remains of what was their farms after William T. Sherman’s army passed through. 

So what do we do? What’s the takeaway here?

Well, obviously, this is a prepping website, so our first and most immediate takeaway is to keep the idea of civil war and social unrest on our lists of things to be prepped for.

The second takeaway is to stop and look at the dates of the Siege of Sarajevo…  5 April 1992 to 29 February 1996 (1,425 days)… and take a look at your supplies and your plans. One thousand, four hundred and twenty five days. That’s a lot of days.

One other takeaway… the next time you hear that song when you are out in public, take a look around you at the massive amounts of wealth on display, and think about the real meaning of the song, talking about that time not so long ago when the mortars replaced the starlight, when the architects saw all their towers leaning and when a lone cello player braved the winter cold to play music in defiance of death and war. 

One Child – Savatage – Dead Winter Dead