War and violence destroys both things seen and unseen. Most of the times the unseen destruction never gets rebuilt. That task to rebuilding those things seem daunting. 

I've been following the news about the former president of Guatemala who has finally been indited for crimes against indigenous people of Guatemala.  After 30 years it will finally be said that he is guilty for the pain of thousands of people and partly responsible for perpetrating the hate and prejudice against indigenous of Guatemala.  As I write there is great pain in my heart as I remember the underlying prejudice I saw against people. I lived in Guatemala in the mid to late 90's during which Guatemala had signed peace. After years of civil war.  I did not know that Guatemala was at war is wasn't prevalent.  What was prevalent was the hate and prejudice and the fear and repercussions of such hate.   Hate is a parasite that survives under the surface of the fabric of societies.  Violence, ignorance, hateful words & attitudes are it's food. People calling other people "Indio!" as if it is bad thing to be an indigenous Guatemalan.  Similar to how people spew the word "Gay!" or "Immigrant" in the U.S.  I can't not say that was above such prejudice. I called my cousin an "indio" once. Repeating the word of which it's meaning was really unclear to me.  I was promptly corrected and taught not to say such a word to anyone!

As a third culture kid (child who is born in a culture different than his or her parents) I sometimes struggle with feeling at home.  Home is many places and no place at the same time.  So many days I long to be in Guatemala only to arrive and remember this isn't the home I long for or remember that my home was there then, but now home is somewhere else.  My heart misses something I cannot seem to grasp. It misses it so much more as I recall the pain that Guatemala is in as it is reeling from past hurts and crumbling from current violence because of drug trafficking.

This has been brought to light even more since last weekend "This America Life" produced a story on it.

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/465/what-happened-at-dos-erres