Independence Day

Professor Davies's contribution to restoring Poland in a mainstream historical discourse both in Europe and America is undeniable. The admiration and warm feelings towards our country is really exceptional among Western scholars. However, his final conclusions seem somewhat far-fetched. It is definitely true that now we live in relatively ethnically homogenous a country, which resulted from the atrocities of WW II, but to say that the situation is 'artificial' or even bad to us, is disputable. I don't mind ethnic or religious minorites but is it better to have a permanent conflict inside the country. I don't analyze who to blame for them but still they were facts.

We are probably not able to live without conflicts, so if there are really few ethnic minorities to blame for our failures, we attack each other, but anyway it seems better than to have a 'ready-to-use' enemy (true or imaginary, that's not a point) next door. This is just thinking aloud. I'm not quite sure about it. I realize that multicultural environment is a good teacher of tolerance and problem-solving.

Businesspeople know it very well that one should avoid competitors as long as possible. On the other hand, they realize that if someone opens a business the appearence of competitors is inevitable. We have to learn how to cope with them in a civilized way. However, longing for them is a kind of perversion.

Today it's the 91st anniversary of our Independence. The situation is somewhat new, however, because our authorities finally approved of the Treaty of Lisbon. How should we interpret the word 'independence' in this context? Are we just independent from Russia and that's all? Benefits from the EU are evident at the moment, but in a long-term perspective the very word 'independence' will have to be revised. We are all facing a serious dilemma.