Something on my mind

The last week has been filled with memories, people and places I have known, seen, lived with or in so many years ago while in College. The black and white pictures of our times, the hair dos( scary sometimes) the closeness. I can still remember how brave and naive we had been, but that is probably why we got so much done. There was little fear and the little we had was pumping adrenaline and motivated us to face the opposition. Who was the opposition? Well it was year 1988 and we all cheered on the continuous strikes among polish working class. We wanted to live a different lives than those common under communism. We went thru coupons for food and other things, such as sugar, shoes, meat. We visited grocery stores with not much on the shelves. Oh Poland was producing, but the government in their anti people intentions would not allow things to be available. The saying was, that if the nation had to worry about every meal on the table, and every issue in the family, they would not have a time to conspire to overthrow the government.
The nation was inspired and it was because they were fed up with shortages, and corruption, they were sick and tired with no future. Young and old, and in between joined together to stand up and to unite and fight. Strikes, arrests, protests, marches, boycotts. We did it all. Our generation did not waste time on meaningless video games, phones. Actually, phones were scarce. Maybe there was a phone on in ten households. Young people thrived by interacting, having meaningful conversation, exchanging opinions. We didn't take classes to learn how to debate, talk, argue a point. We practiced it daily by spending time with each other and talking. Favorite pass time was having groups hanging out and discussing politics. Of course we had parties, and we had drinks. Unfortunately Poland is known for its alcohol consumption,  it does start early, in College, but not thru stupid, harmful jokes, hazings, but while sitting at the table, talking. We didn't have a profession dedicated to therapy with carrier people teaching, solving and helping strangers resolve their emotional, physical or other issues. We had friendships, our friendships have always been real, deep, limitless, unconditional and life long in most cases. Friendships had been where problems were addressed, not gossip, I am sure gossip had some role in daily interactions, but for the most part we talked to each other and helped each other thru whatever difficulties might have been bothering us. Life wasn't easy, money was in great shortage, but hospitality was in abundance, sharing, giving were part of what Poles are about. I miss it. I miss the people with great hearts, polish hearts. We are different abroad, Poles change, I don't know why, but they do. In Poland, when I was young, everyone I knew was generous with time, advice, help, listening ear. There was not much to offer in material things, communism took care of the excess or even the necessities, but it could not destroy our pride in our country, our desire to be free and our strength in numbers.
My last week was full of old friends coming back, old pictures reminding us how far we have come and how much we have changed. Old melodies played in my mind, heart squeezed few tears of regret. We are getting older, we still remember the fight, the goal and the end game. Not always fight means war, or death, sometimes it takes masses to convince the adversary to give up their fight. Someone has to pave the road usually, there are sacrifices. In our case we had number of people who had never returned, who disappeared, who died in prison, but it never stopped us. If we allowed the government to intimidate us, we would have given up the little power we had. Determination, love for the beautiful country, love for the nation and dream to give the next generation a better future, gave us the adrenaline rush we needed to overcome the fear at the sight of uniformed militarized police marching under the windows of our dorms.
They marched we we watched in unity and with every fiber we protested their presence. Nothing was able to stop the movement anymore. It is nostalgic, we should have moved on, it has been over 25 years, but we still feel the connection with those who lived thru those years. Different kind of friendship, more dependable, more reliable, more giving. It is not friendship, it is brotherhood, sisterhood, it is family.