What makes a country?

My Scholarship entry - What makes a country?

Bosnia & Herzegovina | Monday, November 24, 2014 | 5 photos

What makes a country? When writing about Bosnia and Herzegovina, after the word "war" the second one which comes to my mind most often is: "cliche". Most people start their articles with Churchill's or similar quotes how it "has more history than it can handle" or something similar. Whilst true, this tells us nothing, or close to that about its essence. Even though saying it's people who make the country is a cliche as well, this is, like with many countries where strong headed people live true for BiH. It has been blessed with a perfect climate, abundance of water, biodiversity and rich soils, but plagued by darkness of man's making, most times brought from elsewhere. It was in the darkest hours where the best in people collided with worst, and where my favorite virtues of Bosnia's people seem to have been forged: strong will, simplicity, ingenuity, strong sense of compassion and of course - a good sense of humor.