Swanee: How can you do all you do?

Amna: Well, I get up at six.

Swanee: I know that, but where does your spirit come from?

Amna: [with a wide smile] From friends. Friends. That's a lesson I learned from the war.

Nada: In a way, it seems less tragic when relationships break during a war. You have other crises. You see people dead. You're trying to find a place to live. You don't have the luxury to worry. Then later, time does its work. New events push the old ones into the background. But still it's difficult, even now, to talk about the relationships I lost.

****

Every element of human life has its wartime version. Everyday habits and happenings are transformed. Just showing up at work becomes a bold assertion that life will go on-as if dodging sniper fire en route to the university or rehearsal hall or clinic is simply a new occupational hazard. Using a cup of water to bathe is a decision to have one less cup to drink. Putting on makeup becomes an act of defiance against the ugliness. A lifetime of acquiring is undone in one shelling, but the owner may not care, for possessions seem irrelevant compared to safety. Health, religion, education-any element of life looks different viewed through the lens of war.