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May 13 1992

If I was asked the question "what do you think of Osijek" I could reply with ease and answer in three words "I love it". The next question would automatically be "why" I will tell you why, I love Osijek because of the beautiful people, because of the beautiful river Drava and the beautiful buildings, I love Osijek it is what it is no matter what the enemy does to it, it will always remain a part of Croatia. Each night the city is attacked and the people clean up the debris from the night before, each day I walk down the streets and watch going about their daily business. Each day the people of Osijek work, they have lived with the threat of death for almost ten months and has it changed your routines, no, you carry on as if nothing has happened. You the people have a spirit inside you, a spirit that cries out for freedom, a freedom you now deserve. What makes the enemy think that they have the right to deny you this, perhaps it's jealousy, perhaps it's envy or perhaps it's just spite, the people are Osijek and Osijek is it's people. Without it's people Osijek would crumble away, piece by piece, day by day. The aggressors would continue to attack but without the people there would be no one to repair the city, Osijek would just die, without the people Osijek has no heart. Daily I walk down the streets thinking how great it is to be alive and living in this city, I look at the parks, the buildings, the river Drava. They are all crying but we do not hear them, we only hear the cries of humans as shrapnel cuts into their feeble bodies. These buildings, these parks, they cannot cry out loud, but they are crying. Each building has it's own story to tell as pieces of it’s skin are ripped away by bits of sharpened metal. We the people can have plastic surgery to repair our bodies but how can you return a building to it's former glory with today's renovation methods, I don't think that we can. What stories these buildings can tell of people that died within it's walls, of people's blood that has been splattered outside it's walls, of peoples cries and worries as they rush to get their children to the cellars when the dreaded siren sounds. Have you heard the cries of the building's as an artillery shell or mortar homes on it's target, they are all crying out "please miss me, I am old and beautiful, I have innocent men, women and children inside, do not hit me, do not kill my people".These buildings are beautiful and no matter how much metal the terrorists of Serbia pour onto Osijek, the walls of Osijek will never crumble.
The trees have a story to tell of every projectile that flies over their branches, they watch as the shell hits and destroys everything that it hits. The trees were here before the war and they will be here after the enemy has left Croatian soil. They have taken years to grow and just because a branch is ripped off by flying death does it mean it will die. Your ancestors played beneath the branches and your children will do the same, you cannot destroy a tree because it's roots run deep underground. You cannot destroy a city because it's people are all over the world, if the aggressors killed every one in Osijek, there would still be someone somewhere in this wide world to replace them. 
The blood of Osijek through every cirizens body, it flows Ike the river Drav, constantly giving new life and new energy. The Drava, is the river that will never be crossed by our enemies. It laughs as it flows past the enemies positions, it says to the people of Osijek, 
"they will not cross me, I will stop them, I will not let them hurt you my Osijek".
Like the trees the river was here long before Osijek and will remain, no matter what the outcome of the war is. It will still be here for parents to take their children fishing, paddling and swimming in its sparkling waters. It will always be here because it's part of Croatia, Croatia will never die and neither will the Drava. 
No matter how much the city is attacked there are certain things that will never die, the buildings, the parks and the river, they will live on. The people will always be here, they will not leave because they are tormented by their unseen enemies. They will not leave because they are told it's safer, they live, they work, they love their Osijek, why leave? Osijek is home, something the people of this fair city will not be denied of. You and I, the people of Osijek, will take care of the city, you and I will keep the city alive, you and I will not let it and Croatia die. Long live freedom, long live Osijek and long live Croatia. 

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