Keep the Candle Lit...

(Photo cred: Will Van Beckum)

The people of Croatia still keep the War of Independence in their pockets, behind their handkerchiefs. Their hearts aren’t raw with pain, time has indeed softened the anguish, but the memory still haunts. Even if they're in the market, bottling olive oil, or staring into the sea, it never leaves them.



It happened over ten years ago, babies have been born and the exterior damage has been repaired. Someone still puts seven arrangements of fresh flowers in the memorial cove every week. The memorial cove guards the memory of those fallen by displaying their pictures in neat rows, hanging above a granite coffin in a pristine limestone sanctuary. A marble statute of Jesus perpetually stares at them with mercy.




Candles in St. Lawrence’s Cathedral are still lit for them. Yes, tourists stop by the church for twenty minutes and think they’ve seen it all. They callously dump a Kuna into a tin box and light these candles. Sometimes for no reason. Sometimes for a selfish reason. But mostly for vapid reasons: “Um, I guess this is for my grandma who died a few years ago.” But the fact remains – the candles that tilt towards the heavens and whose wax drippings look like angel wings are for them.