Summary

Part II: Heart and Mind

Chapter 4: Bosnia – Eric’s grandfather, Harold Jacobs, nicknamed “Shah” after the Polish word for “shush” or “quiet” because he always talked so much, is a huge inspiration to Eric. By the summer of 1994, Shah has suffered a second stroke, and Eric is preparing to travel to Pula, Croatia, to work with war orphans at the Puntizela refugee camp. Eric sees Shah struggling to put on lip balm, but does not help Shah. It is something Eric regrets, wondering how he can travel around the world to help people he does not know but cannot help someone who is family with a simple task.

On the way to Croatia, Eric encounters a Bosnian woman who wants to know why America isn’t intervening to stop the genocide in Bosnia, and thinks that the Americans would...