And there's really not much more to say, so I'll keep this short. I've never been particularly involved in politics and have always disliked frivolous and loose opinions from people who don't have a full picture of a political sitation. Recently I read an essay entitled "Keep Your Identity Small" (linked for the sake of completeness), where the author noted religion and politics are two areas that always spark flame wars online and off due to the fact that there is no universal, objective truth, and either no one's right, or no one can be sure. That - and my not entirely well-defined political views - have up to now prevented me from taking an active part in political life. Regardless of the party they belonged to and the views they had, the top brass of Polish politicians, intellectuals, freedom fighters and army chiefs, are dead. Something so bizarre, sudden and deconstructing that it's unfathomable, like reality gone topsy-turvy.
The fact that nothing of the sort has ever happened in the history of the world doesn't make it any better. Macedonia (Boris Trajkovsky), Rwanda and Burundi (Juvenal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira), Pakistan (Muhammad Zia-ul-Huq), Mozambique (Samora Machel), Panama (Omar Torrijos, frankly the only one I had heard of previously) and Ecuador (Jaime Roldós Aguilera) have all gone through something similar, the difference being that scores of other important people went down with the Polish plane.
A few comments. First, I'm impressed by the rapid reaction of politicians (it looks like there was no chaos in carrying out the constitutional procedures) and news sources alike. The journalists over at TVN did a formidable job, practically unwavering, professional, factual, without the great pathos and pointless hope associated with the pope's death way back when.
Second, it will be interesting to see the presidential campaign in this context. Been a long time since I've really understood Polish politics, but seeing as some of the campaign would decidedly involve judgments on Kaczyński's presidency, any mention of his successes and failures would now be considered a no-no, a faux pas, a taboo. So will this be the first truly respectful campaign in the history of Poland? Doubtful, but it will impact the results severely. Not that that's the most important thing ATM.
One more thing on a smaller scale. My sister's year at university was planning to throw a huge prepaid party in the evening. For some two hours or so and based on an grotesquely inappropriate forum post from one of the girls who organized the thing, it seemed like it was not only going to take place, but also include a minute of silence (to precede some merry binge-drinking) and all the showings of a grand, rippin' and roarin' party. Additionally, all of the guests would "join the rest of the mourners in grief following the party". Real smooth. Get back up the rabbit hole, Alice. Wonderland ain't doin' you well.
I'm no patriot, but the repercussions of this are bound to echo far and wide and we should all be conscious of the fact that this will redefine Poland completely. Though I like words and words seem to like me, like in most cases on April 10, words have failed me.
