Yesterday Poland observed the 70th anniversary of the start of WW2. I wasn\u2019t going to write about it initially, but then I realized it would look very stupid and almost un-Polish if I didn\u2019t mention it at all. Yet on the other hand, talking about WW2 makes me a bit uncomfortable. Why? I feel this is something that should stay in history books, and rehashing every year what had happened is kind of pointless.<\/p>\n
Yet on the other hand (this would be my third hand, or a prosthetic arm maybe), remembering what had happened is very important. And so I\u2019m torn. I don\u2019t want to talk about WW2, but I feel it\u2019s my responsibility to do so anyway.<\/p>\n
WW2 is a fact that cannot be changed (even though some would like to try), but it\u2019s a fact whose details even after all these years are being disputed. And no, I\u2019m talking here about Holocaust deniers, but about the Polish and Russian versions and interpretations of the events from 70 years ago.<\/p>\n
This story has been re-written so many times and on so many occasions, that by now I don\u2019t even want to attempt to guess what is REALLY true. And I\u2019m not sure that at this point many Poles actually care. It seems to me that we, as a nation, have moved on and it\u2019s only our politicians that still insist on talking about it while fuming with righteous anger.<\/p>\n
Remembering the past is important, but learning from it even more so, because that\u2019s how the past influences our future. And it seems to me that way too many Polish politicians are so stuck in the past that they totally miss the \u201cfuture\u201d bit of this equation. It\u2019s been our national disease since the times of Mieszko<\/strong>. To the powers that be our nation\u2019s past (whether glorious or not) has always been more important than what\u2019s ahead, and needless to say, this attitude has done nothing to help us win friends and influence (foreign) people. And from what I\u2019m reading in Gazeta Wyborcza<\/strong>, it sounds like Mr. Tusk<\/strong> agrees with me. He said, \u201cOn the other hand, becoming preoccupied with the past isn’t good either.\u201d<\/em> Unfortunately, this is what I see happening in our country right now.<\/p>\n See? This is precisely why I should never write about politics and Polish foreign policy on this blog.<\/p>\n So here are some somber words to learn:<\/p>\n In Polish wars don\u2019t merely start but explode. We say that \u201cwojna wybuch\u0142a<\/strong>\u201d \u2013 literally \u2013 a war exploded, just like a bomb would. and hence we would have:<\/p>\n Yesterday Poland observed the 70th anniversary of the start of WW2. I wasn\u2019t going to write about it initially, but then I realized it would look very stupid and almost un-Polish if I didn\u2019t mention it at all. Yet on the other hand, talking about WW2 makes me a bit uncomfortable. Why? I feel this…<\/p>\n\n
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