It was around seven o’clock that morning when my mother walked into the bedroom I shared with my little sister to wake us up. I had just turned six years old and the little one was two and a half. We were living in 1)Benin， where my father had taken a teaching position a few months earlier.

As soon as I opened my eyes that day， I could hear gun shots coming from outside. From the look on my mother’s face， I knew something bad was happening and that whoever was shooting wasn’t hunting for food， and wasn’t that far from our home.

The three of us then quickly crossed the dining room of the third floor apartment where we lived to meet my father in the master bedroom. Closing the door behind us， we proceeded to sit on the floor between the bed and the door， and to wait. The window was wide open， with a

2)screen covering one half. We could clearly hear gunshots resonating on a regular basis outside in the morning air. We knew we were surrounded and that whatever it was， it was the real deal.

After a couple of hours， and with no signs that the shootings outside would stop， my mother attempted to go into the kitchen， only a few feet away， to get the family， and especially us children， something to eat. However， the shooters， who hadn’t given us any time for breakfast， saw the door move， and they immediately proceeded to shoot in the bedroom， i.e. at us! And， not a chance that they would have shot through the screen—they shot the glass， which flew everywhere in thousands of tiny pieces. We screamed， we cried， we waited some more…

The shooting went on for about three hours. To us， it had seemed like an 3)eternity， and the bedroom now looked like a 4)war zone. Aside from the broken windows and the glass everywhere， there was the damage done by the bullets after they broke the glass and entered the walls. Over the 5)headboard of the bed， there were two holes， each 8 to 12 inches in diameter， where two of the bullets had found their respective destinations.

A few months later， the four of us safely returned to North America， having spent less than one year in Benin.

Following the 9#8226;11 events， and when the US

6)retaliations were 7)imminent， I thought a lot about Benin and the events of January 16， 1977. I wanted to understand what had happened that day and I wanted to know why my family had been， even for a short period of time， in the middle of a war zone.

Unable to find much information on the Internet， I turned to the Benin Embassy in Washington， where a nice gentleman took the time to chat with me about the events of 1977.

Benin’s political past is， 8)to say the least，

9)tumultuous， involving a series of political and army 10)coups. But， in short， in October of 1972， the government of Benin was overthrown with one of those coups， and 11)Major Mathieu Kérékou seized power. Meanwhile， a group of 12)mercenaries， desired to take control of Benin’s government and， likely financed by other political powers， organized themselves outside of the country (in other African nations and in Europe) and they planned the event of January 16， 1977. That morning， they entered the country via the airport， and from what I understand， the building where my family lived simply happened to be on the road that goes from the airport to the government’s central office.

On January 16th 1977， Benin’s national army defeated the mercenaries， however， many lives were lost on both sides and many civilians died that morning， merely for having been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Meanwhile， every time I hear about a war， any war， my thoughts turn to the civilians who inevitably get caught between the lines of fire. I think about the families who might be isolated in their homes， scared， unarmed， and trapped like rats with nowhere to go. I especially think about the children who may be old enough that they’ll remember (if they survive)， but who are too young to understand or to participate. I know how scared they are.

When I hear about the millions of Afghan

refugees and the thousands of civi-lians already dead in this war of terrorism， I sometimes feel like a child again， in that I feel powerless and I wish I could make it all stop and go away. But while I can’t do that， I can hope that my story will be yet another

reminder to all of us， that the civilians being

terrorized and killed (on both sides) are not mere

“13)collateral damage.” They are people like you and I and it makes no difference where on earth they live because it’s never their war.

那天早上七點鐘左右，媽媽走進(jìn)我和妹妹的臥室把我們叫醒。那年我剛六歲，我妹妹只有兩歲半。我們一家住在貝寧，幾個月前爸爸接受了一份教職，到這里來工作。

那天我一睜開眼睛，就聽到外面?zhèn)鱽順屄暋膵寢屇樕系谋砬榭梢灾?，恐怖的事情發(fā)生了，那些絕不是狩獵的槍聲，而且開槍的人離我們家不遠(yuǎn)。

我們?nèi)肆⒓纯焖俅┻^飯廳（當(dāng)時我們住在那棟房子的三樓），沖進(jìn)主臥房與爸爸會合。我們關(guān)上房門，然后一起坐在大床和房門之間的地板上，等待槍聲停止。房間的窗戶敞開著，紗窗遮擋了一半的窗戶。我們可以清楚地聽到，槍聲每過一會兒就在外面清晨的空氣中轟響。我們明白，我們被包圍了，不管他們要干什么，反正這次可是來真的。

就這樣過了幾個小時，外面的槍聲還沒有停下來的跡象，媽媽試圖溜進(jìn)只有幾步之遙的廚房，好拿些食物給全家人，尤其是給孩子們吃。但是，這些槍手不但不給我們吃早餐的機會，還一看到房門動就立即繼續(xù)向臥室開火，也就是朝我們開槍！而且，他們不射紗窗，而是朝玻璃窗開火，玻璃碎片四處飛射。我們尖叫哭喊，只有繼續(xù)等待……

掃射持續(xù)了大約三個小時。對我們來說，時間像凝固了一樣，而臥室現(xiàn)在就像一個戰(zhàn)場。窗戶破碎，玻璃四散，除此之外，子彈破窗而入，在墻壁留下累累彈痕。床頭板的上方有兩個大洞，直徑均約為八到十二英寸，洞里分別嵌著一顆子彈。

幾個月后，我們一家四口安全返回北美，在貝寧居住的時間還不到一年。

9#8226;11事件之后，美國的報復(fù)計劃一觸即發(fā)，那時候，我想起了貝寧和1977年1月16日發(fā)生的事件，反思良久。我想弄明白，到底那天發(fā)生了什么事；雖然時間不長，但是為什么我們一家陷于戰(zhàn)場之中。

由于在網(wǎng)上找不到太多相關(guān)信息，我轉(zhuǎn)而詢問貝寧駐華盛頓的大使館，那兒有位熱心的先生花了些時間跟我聊了聊1977年發(fā)生的那些事件。

毫不夸張地說，在過去，貝寧的政治局面非常動蕩不安，政治傾軋和軍事政變接連不斷。但是，簡單地說吧，1972年10月貝寧政府在其中一次政變中被推翻，馬蒂厄#8226;克雷庫少校上臺執(zhí)政。同時，有一群雇傭兵，他們一直對貝寧的政權(quán)虎視眈眈，而且很可能背后有其他政治勢力資助，后來他們在國外（其他非洲國家和歐洲）聚集整頓，并且策劃了1977年1月16日的那起事件。那天早晨，他們由機場進(jìn)入國內(nèi)，而據(jù)我所知，當(dāng)時我們一家所住的樓房正好位于從機場通往政府總部的路上。

在1977年1月16日，貝寧國家軍打敗了這些雇傭軍，但是雙方人員都傷亡慘重，而且許多平民百姓也在那天早晨喪生，僅僅是因為他們在不適當(dāng)?shù)臅r間和地點出現(xiàn)。

現(xiàn)在，每次我聽到關(guān)于戰(zhàn)爭，任何一場戰(zhàn)爭的事情，我就會立即想到那些正好處于戰(zhàn)火之中的、無法躲避的老百姓。我會想到那些可能被迫躲在屋里的一家子，孤立無援，驚恐哆嗦，手無寸鐵，就像被困且無處可逃的老鼠。我特別想到那些半大不小的孩子，他們也許已經(jīng)能記得住戰(zhàn)爭的發(fā)生（如果有幸存活），但還是太小，難以明白戰(zhàn)爭因由，也無法參與其中。我很明白他們會有多么的恐懼。

當(dāng)我聽說阿富汗的難民有數(shù)百萬人，而且已經(jīng)有成千上萬的平民死于這場反恐戰(zhàn)爭的時候，有時我會覺得自己又變回一個小孩子，渺小無力，只想能讓這些戰(zhàn)爭全部?；?，全都消失。然而我卻無能為力，可以做的是希望以我的故事作為對我們所有人的又一警醒——那些受武裝恐嚇、無辜喪命的雙方平民不僅僅只是 “無心之失”。不管他們身處地球哪一角落，他們跟你我是一樣的，因為這些戰(zhàn)爭從來都跟他們無關(guān)。