People's minds aren't big enough to comprehend this war." Dado told us this after he described unspeakable atrocities that took place in Serb labor camps in Grbavica. He had just finished telling us an account of what it was like for him first as a soldier for the JNA in 1991, and then deserting to become a member of the Bosnian Green Berets (or Patriots League) to defend Sarajevo. In 1992, his group advanced and took control of a small hill near Dobrinja. They would keep control of that area until June 1992. They didn't have control over the main road into the city, though. "I had to drive over 250 kph in my car past the JNA barracks to bring two injured girls to Kosevo Hospital. The girls' lives were saved," he said.

His house was in Grbavica, surrounded by Serbs early on in the war. He had to defend it. If it were captured, first the Chetniks would kill him, they would beat his wife until she gave them any money that was in the house, kill her, and then rape his sister. But, he said, "you had to go out. You had to live your life and everyone went out with the idea that if they got hit, they would be helped by someone else. It is the spirit of Sarajevo." Dado is now employed by a local humanitarian organization where he assists refugees and displaced persons living in Sarajevo. No matter how well-adjusted many Sarajevans, like Dado, seemed, they never failed to surprise us with another intense story within them that they were waiting to tell. The best we could do was listen. And learn.