Having only lived here for 3 months, I'm not yet in a position to give a detailed analysis of how Polish think on every issue. However on one issue, the future of Poland, I have some initial impressions that are worth highlighting. When it comes to the present state of Poland and the future of Poland, I find Polish people quite pessimistic and disillusioned. This is something I have noticed in all the generations. In very few countries do people love their politicians but in Poland people really don't have faith in them. Not only do people not like the current bunch but no-one (at least no-one I have met) has concrete ideas, that they are desperate to bore you to death with, about how to change the situation. No-one talks passionately about politics, about what Poland must do to change the situation. Most people seem to accept that this is how things work in Poland, like it is some law of nature that can't be altered. It is probably not surprising that many people feel this way, particularly the older generation. After all, Poland has a pretty brutal history. I would however, expect young people to be a little more passionate about the future of their country.
On this very point, I had a conversation class with a business man last week. This guy has a very good job, he is the regional manager of a huge supermarket chain. He is a man I would expect to take an interest in Politics and have opinions on the future of Poland. However when we got onto the topic of Politics he had little positive to say. It ended up with me convincing him that not everything was so bad. The geographical location of Poland (in between Germany and Russia) which has been a curse for Poland for hundreds of years, can now be seen as an opportunity. European Union membership has made Poland a key state in linking Eastern Europe and Western Europe. Poland is in the unique position of being both a Western EU state and an Eastern European state and can surely combine these two sides of itself to become a gateway economically and politically between the business's of the EU and the vast market of Eastern Europe. Poland also has a large, young, educated labour force ,most of whom are currently abroad but many of whom plan to return. Upon returning, this generation will surely bring new ideas and practises back to Poland as well bringing new skills (e.g. language skills) which will be attractive to any business looking to invest in a country.
Like I said, it's impossible not to make generalisations about a whole people but my initial impressions are that I am more enthusiastic about Poland than most Poles. Then again, there might be a whole community of young, politically active Poles with lots of ideas and enthusiasm that I just don't know about.
