I wake up at half past four in the morning, while most people are still asleep, and walk around the block. On a bench, I find a new, unworn American marine boot. A boot we all dreamed about during the war, with a metal sole that no mine can pierce. But why is it here, alone, and what does it symbolize?
This boot is not just footwear. It’s a symbol of pain, memories, and the fate of people on both sides of the Drina River. Banet, who bought these boots in Canada, hasn’t been able to cross the Drina for decades. His friend Jovica, wounded in the war, lost a leg to an anti-personnel mine but became a Paralympic skiing champion. Their stories are intertwined with war traumas, betrayals, and bitter realities that still hurt today.
In the café “Crazy House” in Sarajevo, where Radovan Karadžić and others once stopped by, Banet and Jovica drink beer at eight in the morning and toast to figures like Putin, Gaddafi, Mladić, and Karadžić. Their pictures hang on the walls, and the American boot stands on the work desk, surrounded by dried flowers — like an ikebana for those who are no longer with us.
This story isn’t just about one boot. It’s about war, friendship, betrayal, and loss. About how war leaves marks that are not easily erased, and how memories are kept in the most unusual places.
If you think this is just another war story, think again. This boot and the people around it remind us that war is not just history — it’s a living wound that still hurts. So, what would you do if you found such a boot? Drop a comment, maybe you have your own story or at least a good joke about war boots!
