32 Years After Civil War, Mundane Moments Trigger Awful Memories

Cards. Candles. Sunsets. For this New York Times correspondent and other children of Beirut in the 1980s, traumatic reminders of the war are still there in everyday activities.

When you’re a child, how do you get through a war?

A lot of Monopoly, Scrabble, card games, candles and windowless bathrooms turned into family bomb shelters, almost like a big sleepover — if you can ignore the hard tiles and loud shelling of some group trying to kill you for reasons you don’t quite understand.

Yes, war is pulverized buildings, the screech of ambulances, blood, funerals. But war can be boring for long stretches, and you pass the time by falling back on the trite and familiar.