Siema, from Poland!
I am told this word is a very friendly greeting. Most of you are strangers, but these days, I suspect more and more of us will find comfort in those we’ve just met.
In any case, my trip has gone well. I’ve been in country two weeks, have made good progress at work, and this weekend I’m visiting Gdańsk. I met a lovely Polish woman who took me around the old part of the city. We had perorgies, coffee, and saw several of the old churches. Today we’re touring a couple of museums. I cannot wait.
You see, a lifetime or two ago I studied to be a historian. Life didn’t go that way, but you could say I’ve been making connections ever since. The study of history isn’t unlike our ancestors trying to divine the future by looking at the insides of animals. We see all the things passed down from us by our ancestors, the guts of humanity if you will, and we try to find out what really happened. Perhaps, if we’re really lucky, we get a glimpse as to where our present is going.
Gdańsk is an old city. Older than anything we have in the United States. They tell me this is where the first shots of World War 2 were fired, when the Germans attacked Poland. A lot of the city was destroyed in that conflict, but I’m happy to report it’s beautiful now.
So what?
The past two weeks have been a strange series of connections for me. The first starts in the town of Koszalin, where I’m working. Diedrich Bonhoeffer, the famous anti-Nazi pastor, worked there for a time. There is a large, marble tablet marking where he stayed with friends. I’ve seen the churches where he worked. Of course, the Nazis murdered them all.
You see, Bonhoeffer was an early hero of mine. One of the first examples I ever saw of a person planting themselves like a tree and demanding of the rest of the world, “No, you move.” I’m not ashamed to say I cried when I saw the marker. It was a full circle kind of moment for me.
To make a longer story shorter, I then continued to watch the news from America. Biden’s demand for a vaccine mandate sparked quite a bit of conversation among my friends. One of them, an employee for the TSA, drew my ire by lecturing me on government overreach without any sense of irony. When I cussed him out and pointed out the hypocrisy of his position, he took offense. That friendship is now over.
You should know this is the same man that had to be reminded the TSA wasn’t a thing until after 9/11. Obviously, I feel no great loss here.
From there I came to this majestic city. I also subscribed to Edward Snowden’s Substack (on the 20th anniversary of 9/11, believe it or not). You should check him out. Great perspective from an important historical figure.
In any case, that’s where the idea for my post title came from. You may remember it as Churchill’s observation regarding the Battle of France - I wonder if it isn’t applicable to Biden’s mandate.
As stated previously, my working theory is that the United States is undergoing a Soviet style collapse. 9/11 was our Chernobyl. Our reaction to it has done infinitely more damage than the event itself and will of course continue to.
But with the coronavirus pandemic, we’re bringing that sort of thing home. In 20 years time, we’ll be looking back on COVID-19 and realizing the same thing: our response was worse. History will rightfully judge us harshly.
It always does. That’s the job.
When I draw all these things together and reflect on them personally I realize why I named my Substack, “The Partisan.” It comes from the old French Resistance song: when they poured across the border, I was cautioned to surrender. This I could not do, so I took my gun and I vanished.
Obviously, I’m not in the woods right now. It’s a metaphor, but a poignant one.
These days, I think it’s the most appropriate response - literally or otherwise.
Join me? Remember to bring a tent.
Great piece of writing. Thank you for sharing your thoughts & opinions. Please don’t stop.
What part of the States are you from? Are you GenX or Millennial age? I’ve always wanted to go to Poland. Enjoy!