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Christian Witness, Perspective, PNCC, Poland - Polish - Polonia,

In memory – September 1, 1939

From John Guzlowski’s Lighting and Ashes blog: September 1, 1939

69 years ago on September 1. 1939, the Germans invaded Poland. Their blitzkrieg, their lightning war, came from the air and the sea and the sky. By Sept 28, Warsaw, the capital city of Poland, gave up. By October 7, the last Polish resistance inside Poland ended.

…

The world had not seen anything like it, and it was the prelude to a lot of things the world had never seen before: the Final Solution, Total War, the concentration camps, the atomic bomb, the fire bombing of civilian populations, and brutality on a level that most people still don’t want to think about almost 70 years later.

When the Germans attacked on that September 1, My dad was 19 and working on his uncle’s farm with his brother Roman. Their parents had died when the boys were young, and their uncle and aunt took them in and taught them how to farm, how to prepare the soil in the fall and plant the seeds in the spring. My mom was 17 and living with her parents and her sisters and brothers in a forest west of Lvov in eastern Poland.

The summer had been hot and dry, and both of my parents, like so many other Poles, were looking forward to the fall and the beginning of milder weather.

The war turned my parents’ lives upside down. Nothing they planned or anticipated could have prepared them for what happened.

By the end of the war, they were both slave laborers in Nazi Germany, their homes destroyed, their families dead or scattered, their country taken over by the Soviet Union.

Read the whole thing and view the video links. Remember the cost of war, think of the the sacrifice of Poland, the waste, the lessons learned, pray for the dead, and moreover pray for peace.

Almighty God, by whose grace we look for the day when nation shall not any more lift up sword against nation, and when men shall live without fear in security and peace, grant to us in this time of strife the will to labor for peace even while our sword is drawn to resist the foe. Let not the evil we oppose turn us from our purpose, to achieve unity and concord among the nations of the earth, to Thy honor and glory. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. — Prayer for Peace from A Book of Devotions and Prayers According to the Use of the Polish National Catholic Church.

PNCC, Poland - Polish - Polonia, Saints and Martyrs, ,

Polish Marian piety – a survey

From the Polish [Roman] Catholic weekly Niedziela: Blue is the colour of faith.

A lot of interesting facts and figures on Marian feasts, images, prayers, and pilgrimages.

While the article presents a wholly Roman Catholic view of Marian piety, the following excerpt from Bishop Hodur’s May Sermon I, 1902 indicates the strong tradition of Marian piety within the PNCC even though we reject the Roman Catholic trend toward dogmatization of that piety.

Preoccupied the whole year with matters of this world, perhaps more than one of us forgot the veneration which should surround the Mother of God. We will have an opportunity to bow our heads before her and humble our hearts and call upon her mediation and care. And we need her mediation very much. For who of us does not suffer many afflictions? Therefore in this our adversity to whom are we to tum? Between God and a person is the Most Holy Mother. As the Ark of the Covenant contained within it the law of the Old Testament and the root of Jesse, so the Mother of God brings into the world the Savior, Christ the Lord. Yet not only that she is our confidant but also our most holy healer.

Through the sins of the first people humankind lost the health of the soul, that is, the grace of God. Weak humankind became more capable of sin than of virtue, as the Apostle Paul complained: Unhappy a man am I … for it is not what I wish that I do … I do what I do not wish.

A medicine and help for us is the Mother of God, who is our mediator, the cure of the sick and the refuge of sinners. To her we must always turn and seek her help. — from Bishop Francis Hodur, Sermon Outlines and Occasional Speeches 1899 – 1922, (c) 1999 Theodore L. Zawistowski, Polish National Catholic Church, Central Diocese

Perspective, Poland - Polish - Polonia, Political

When you just don’t have the time

I read with interest an article at LRC by Peter S. Rieth entitled Oh, Me! Me! Shoot Me! A Summary of Contemporary Polish Foreign Policy

I agree with Mr. Rieth’s key point, but wholeheartedly disagree with the method he uses to get there.

In the article he states:

Of course, when speaking of something as abstract as “national psychology” or “the character of a nation,” it must be remembered that we are speaking in generalities verging on stereotypes; that there is no such thing in fact as a “national psychology,” because a “nation” is a mere historical construct; like “ethnicity” itself. Nevertheless, it is often useful to engage the archetype of a “national psychology” to explain certain tendencies in popular thought and action; that is to say —“ in politics. What, then, is it, about Polish national psychology…

Politics is all about painting your enemy, whether a person or philosophy, in the worst possible light. This article simply bathes in the top propagandist models aimed at supporting Mr. Rieth’s arguments. After exposing a great basis for his argument Mr. Rieth seems to loose focus and makes a broad appeal to the Natavist leftovers still so much a part of the American culture. It is the appeal to the “all Poles, dumb Pollacks, they got it with their mother’s milk” way of thinking. The article paints Poles as a corporate unity – all thinking, acting, and believing in the same way. Of course that argument appeals to his target audience especially when it is couched in Mr. Rieth’s brief allusion to ‘well I don’t mean everybody’ and ‘hey I’m a Pole too so I know what I’m talking about.’

His disavowal of stereotyping in the excerpt above doesn’t cut it. Mr. Rieth relies far too heavily on the idea of national consciousness, nationalism, national mythology, with a quick cross-reference to National Socialism throughout his article. He lost his way in writing this article when he failed to grasp the key point he made in saying: “…there is no such thing as a homogeneous understanding of human history.”

I have experienced the broad spectrum of Poland. It is old and new Polonia, it is cities and villages, conservative, moderate, and liberal. It is far from singular in its aspirations and thoughts. Its people are diverse and represent the best and worst in humanity, and everything in-between. Even for all its touted Roman Catholic conservatism its pew dwellers perceive even those matters differently.

What we can understand, and what would have made a better argument, is that governments make good and bad choices and that there are wise and poor leaders. We see flag waving, baby kissing leaders who fail to set a vision for the future as well as those with their sights on the future (take a listen to Lech Wałęsa when he speaks on the interconnectedness of societies, or Jerzy Surdykowski when he speaks on European history – the long view). We see leaders who sell the well being of their country on the cheap as well as those that stand on core principals. We see leaders who take the lessons of history into account in building policy and those whose history is nothing more than chauvinistic fantasy. Each country has its own mixture of these and heaven knows the U.S. has been plagued of late.

Mr. Rieth may want to attempt this exercise and develop an article on the national consciousness of the United States. What leads us to making such bad choices in leaders? Are we an amalgam of “keeping up with the Jones'” and to heck with everything important? It cannot be done, or at least not without too broad of a brush stroke. Those too broad brush strokes destroy the soundness of many an argument.

For my part I would encourage Mr. Rieth to rely on patience in building out his articles. He should avoid painting peoples in such a homogeneous fashion. In taking that route he is not serving intellectual curiosity, good journalism, or a sound call to change. He is just hurting his point: Poland sells itself on the cheap to the United States for the air of safety, one which doesn’t exist (see the Young Fogey’s citation of this article) and in doing so lessens its soundness and security.

The street, and the people of Poland get it, or at least a percentage of the population does. The same street moved away from the destructive tendencies of the Kaczynski twins. You cannot fool the population, in Poland, the U.S., or elsewhere forever, because enough of them see through the disguise. Sound arguments help in achieving better ends, in achieving political change. Please reconstruct your argument.

Media, Perspective, Poland - Polish - Polonia, Political

On Poland’s missle defense agreement

You can read lots of stories on this. The Weekly Standard has a good analysis (ok – basically neo-cons, but even neo-cons can make sense from time-to-time) in Poland’s New Missile Defense.

The first few articles I read yesterday, primarily from the Press in the United States, were so horrible, both historically and factually, that I wanted to correct a few of the inaccuracies and further extend and clarify their statements.

  • Poland will be a nuclear target (because of this new system). Sorry scary Russian General but that is just a fact and has been a fact for 50 plus years. Poland’s geographic position between the ill-named Warsaw Pact and NATO just made this so. Russia and the United States would have cleared Poland off the map in any conflict – and would do so today. Likely that Poland’s Warsaw Pact allies would have been the first to nuke it.
  • Poland is a Eastern European Country. It depends upon who you quote. The CIA Factbook puts Poland in Central Europe. The UN notes Poland as being in East Central Europe. Religiously Poland is Western European. Central European is a better term.
  • Poland has “traditionally [been] under Russian influence.” Only if your historical perspective is 200 years plus or minus, you believe that invasion is a welcome event, or you follow a Pan-Slavic philosophy. Poland fell under Russian “influence” several times, in the partitions of the late 18th century until World War I, during World War II when Russia and Nazi Germany cooperated in the invasion of Poland, and following World War II when Poland was involuntarily thrown under Russian control by its Allies (England and the United States). Influence is also a poor choice of words. Better to say control. Those Russian ‘influences’ were not welcome.
  • Poland was communist. Technically and historically correct but misleading. It’s like a reporter stopping at saying that the United States was an English Colony. Poland was more than that and wasn’t a communist country by its own choice. The statement is not reflective of what Poland was and is in a larger context.

Of course no Press outlet will take notice of my corrections and clarifications, but there you are.

Poland - Polish - Polonia, Political

88th Anniversary of the Miracle on the Vistula

From Wikipedia: Battle of Warsaw (1920)

The Battle of Warsaw (Russian: Варшáвское сражéние, Polish: Bitwa Warszawska; sometimes referred to as the Miracle at the Vistula, Polish: Cud nad Wisłą) was the decisive battle of the Polish-Soviet War, which began soon after the end of World War I in 1918 and lasting until the Treaty of Riga (1921).

Before the Polish victory at the Vistula, both the Bolsheviks and the majority of foreign experts considered Poland to be on the verge of defeat. The stunning, unexpected Polish victory crippled the Bolshevik forces. In the following months, several more Polish victories secured Poland’s independence and eastern borders.

Pod Twoją obronę uciekamy się" - 1920
Pod Twoją obronę uciekamy się - 1920 (Under Your Protection we find shelter - 1920)

August 15th was the turning point. Polish forces at Warsaw routed the Russian army. It is said that an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary above the Wisła was the inspiration for the victory by the Polish forces.

Christian Witness, Perspective, PNCC, Poland - Polish - Polonia, ,

Posting spree, life, and gifts

Notice today’s posting spree? I can start by saying that I would have loved to spread this out as background information arrived, but this past weekend was just a bit too physically challenging for me. I felt absolutely lousy all weekend. I actually missed Holy Mass on Sunday – the first time in years. Needless to say, posting to the blog wasn’t high on the priority list. I feel much better now and have a burst of energy. I guess I just needed rest, light eating, and as always, God’s blessing. A measure of my renewed energy comes from the inspiration for many of these posts.

The source of many of today’s posts comes from a benefactor whom I truly admire – a storehouse of knowledge on the PNCC and a person I see as a true lover of the PNCC. I came home today to discover several items that he mailed, a publication from the Orthodox Christian Mission Center and a brochure from the University of Michigan’s Copernicus Endowment. I am looking through both while writing these words. More to come after I reflect on what’s there.

I am truly grateful for these gifts – not because they are things, but because of the time one man, with more knowledge and grace then I will ever have, spends in being the giver of gifts.

Bardzo dziękuje i Bóg zapłać Pan Władysław!

Poland - Polish - Polonia,

Lake George’s Golden Age

Experience a bit of Lake George’s Golden Age at the former teaching studio of Metropolitan Opera Diva Marcella Sembrich. Mme. Sembrich was a pianist, violinist, teacher, Polish patriot and benefactor. Mme. Sembrich’s studio is one of the few buildings open to the public from northern New York State’s “Great and Gracious” period.

Mme. Sembrich’s teaching studio was the focal point of the summers she spent at her lakeside mansion, named Bay View. Juilliard and Curtis Institute vocal students sought instruction by the acclaimed Mme. Sembrich in that studio, now a Memorial Museum.

Daily hours from 10am through 12:30pm and 2pm through 5:30pm.

The Marcella Sembrich Opera Museum
Marcella Sembrich Memorial Association, Inc.
4800 Lake Shore Drive
Bolton Landing, NY 12814-0417
Telephone: 518-644-2431 or 518-644-9839

PNCC, Poland - Polish - Polonia

U. S. Soldiers on pilgrimage to Jasna Góra

From the AP: Hundreds of US soldiers join Polish pilgrimage

WARSAW, Poland (AP) —” Hundreds of soldiers in camouflage set off Tuesday on a 10-day march to Poland’s holiest Roman Catholic shrine —” among them five Americans hoping to deepen ties with an ally.

Five members of the Illinois National Guard traveled to Poland to make the 180-mile (290-kilometer) trek on foot —” alongside Poles, Germans and other Europeans —” from Warsaw to Czestochowa, site of the revered Black Madonna icon.

Though the 300-year-old pilgrimage has deep religious and patriotic resonance in mainly Catholic Poland, the main purpose of the U.S. contingent, a tradition that has started in recent years, is to show solidarity with Poland —” an ally in Iraq and Afghanistan —” and other nations.

It’s a chance “to come together and share a little bit, and hopefully develop closer bonds with foreign militaries in a non-combat type setting,” said Master Sgt. Roman Waldron, 37, from Springfield, Illinois.

Before embarking on the pilgrimage, the pilgrims attended an early morning Mass at the Field Cathedral of the Polish Army, where a priest blessed them with holy water. They were also told to set a moral example and refrain from drinking or smoking during the march.

The Black Madonna —” which legend says was painted by St. Luke —” was brought to the Jasna Gora monastery in Czestochowa in 1384.

Many miracles have been attributed to the painting, including a 1655 siege during which 70 monks and 180 supporters held off nearly 4,000 soldiers from the Protestant Swedish army and inspired Poles to rise up and throw out the invaders.

Sgt. 1st Class Evan Young, from Rock Island, Illinois, believes the pilgrimage is going to be even more meaningful than he had first imagined.

“Originally when I was given the opportunity I thought it would be kind of a neat way to see Poland, but then I started doing research on the Black Madonna and the siege and I thought it’s part of a much bigger thing,” said Young, a 45-year-old who grew up Episcopalian.

“It’s pretty neat to be taking part in this, and help improve relations with Poland and other countries that are here,” he said.

Only one of the five American soldiers is a Catholic. They will sleep in eight-man tents set up along the route by the Polish army.

The soldiers were trailed by thousands of students and other pilgrims in Warsaw, and will eventually join up with thousands more expected to converge on Czestochowa next week, ahead of the August 15 [Roman] Catholic holy day marking the Assumption of Mary…

My the Blessed Mother watch over them and instruct them in the ways of her Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

O, God, the strength of those who put their trust in Thee; Bless we pray, our soldiers, sailors, servicewomen, and airmen; our chaplains, doctors, nurses; and all enlisted in the service of our country. Give Thy holy angels charge over them to protect them from all harm; deliver them in all temptation, and if it by Thy gracious will, bring them safely home. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. — A Prayer for Those in the Armed Forces from A Book of Devotions and Prayers According to the Use of the Polish National Catholic Church.

For more information on this annual pilgrimage see Polskie Radio – Poland on pilgrimage.

Perspective, Poland - Polish - Polonia, Political,

A candid look at Poles attitudes toward the United States

From the article Bye-Bye, America! as published in Transitions Online, originally from Polityka:

Not so long ago, Poland was said to be America’s Trojan horse in Europe and its 51st state. Indeed, America was our shield and our unattainable ideal. Did we suddenly stop liking it? Did the American dream recede in the minds of the Poles?

Studies of the Polish public’s favorable attitudes toward foreign countries show that America has lost 20 percentage points over the last four years. It is not fully clear when this happened, but let us recall two warning bells. In October 2006, [Foreign Minister] Radoslaw Sikorski, who was then defense minister in the Law and Justice [PiS] cabinet, wrote two surprising comments on a confidential memo about a U.S. diplomat’s visit to the prime minister’s chancellery. One —“ “we can do without it” —“ referred to a proposal related to the missile defense shield. The other —“ “traditionally cheeky” —“ referred to a person who represented Washington. These notes, even if they were made in self-defense as an alibi for the opinion of “the biggest American” in our [ruling] establishment, signaled that Warsaw’s love of Washington was no longer passionate.

Shortly after that, during an international seminar in Warsaw, Sikorski made the audience realize the shocking proportion between U.S. assistance and European support for Poland: $30 million from the United States and 90 billion (not million) euros (not dollars) from the EU. This comparison may have been stretched a little because it does not refer to the same things, but it does put the previous irritating question of whether Poland is more attached to America or to Europe in a different light. (Do you remember it? It was said to be as problematic as the question of who we love more, mom or dad.)

…Today, Prime Minister Donald Tusk is better at sensing the Polish likes. His compatriots understood and supported him when he announced on 4 July (which was not very clever, since this was a U.S. national holiday) that the missile defense shield served only the purpose of U.S. security and, in a word, hinted that the Bush administration had not cared about Poland’s security in the talks so far.

There is widespread conviction that we make bad deals out of business with the United States. Tusk reiterated that the Poles had so far never said “no” to their most important ally, but America had to try harder to win the Poles’ favor. And this assessment overlaps with a new street wisdom. Apparently, the Poles think that the Americans, who are indeed “traditionally cheeky,” took what they wanted from us, sold what they had, and gave us nothing in exchange…

Absolutely true. For all the promises to Poland none of its aspirations have have come to fruition. For all of Poland’s assistance in pursing the United States cause in Iraq and Afghanistan, and perhaps even in housing black sites, the only thanks has been an over-the-shoulder nod, ‘Nice going kid, now get lost.’ Case in point – U.S. aid to Poland is far less than U.S. aid to Turkey and dozens of other less than helpful countries.

In addition, the Iraqi intervention and the manner of managing Iraq have undermined the Poles’ unwavering belief that America —“ the world’s most powerful country, supported by the wisdom of the world’s best universities and renowned government analytical centers —“ plans all its steps perfectly and knows what it is doing. Meanwhile, it is visible to the naked eye that it was instead France and the West’s Arab allies that were right when they insisted, although to no avail, on pushing and isolating Saddam Hussein, but without opening up the Iraqi Pandora’s box.

[In] an important survey carried out by CBOS [publicly-funded opinion research center] in March 2007 [t]he Poles were asked which among the most powerful international organizations and countries had in their opinion a “mainly positive” or a “mainly negative” influence over changes in the world. The findings revealed a revolution that had taken place in the public’s opinions. In the case of the EU, 70 percent pointed to a positive influence and 3 percent to a negative impact. For the United States, only 38 percent replied in the positive, with as much as 24 percent of answers on the negative side. To put this into perspective, 10 percent pointed to a positive influence on the part of Russia, 49 percent to a negative one. When these results are compared with the findings of surveys taken in 2006, they show what can even be called a breakdown in favorable opinions about America, because in the preceding year the United States was 24 percentage points higher in terms of positive influence.

Dr. Elzbieta Skotnicka-Illasiewicz from the Polish Academy of Sciences has been studying the Poles’ attitudes towards European integration on a regular basis for 17 years… She points out the reasons for a decline in favorable attitudes toward America. These are not the only reasons, but they are important from the perspective of commonly held opinions. Almost all countries lifted visa requirements imposed on the Poles. However, the Americans did not. In this way, they showed lack of interest and sympathy. To put it simply, this can be summarized in a complaint that is repeatedly made in Poland: they could accept the support of Polish soldiers in Iraq, but they could not accept the same soldier as a tourist or even as a candidate for illegal work. Moreover, the very stories about visa procedures, about standing in lines, paying in advance regardless of the result of efforts, and questioning applicants in an aggressive manner reinforced the unfavorable image of the United States. …

Beyond the Iraq debacle, and Poles illusory love for Amerika, these are the sorts of bread and butter issues felt by the “man on the street.” In a way it is reminiscent of the communist era: ‘I work hard, and do what you ask, and I am treated worse?’

Likewise, the 9-million-strong Polish community in the United States, an important part of the American myth in Poland, has also shrunk or dwindled somehow. Wealthier Poles suddenly noticed that the Polish community in the United States is composed not of hordes of American millionaires, but —“ with all due respect —“ of descendants of the plebeian masses from Podhale and Podlasie, who failed to pursue the kinds of financial or political careers that the descendants of the Irish, Italian, German, or Jewish diasporas did. Apart from this, what power do they have?

If the Polish government had any influence with the Poles in the United States and their votes in America and if these votes formed a package, then everything really could be agreed with Washington.

But these are just pipe dreams. The old Polish community in the United States suddenly paled in comparison not with the old Polish independence-minded soldiers in London or the Parisian “culture,” but with the masses of young people who set off for England.

We suddenly saw that these are different worlds. The Poles in the United States voted for the PiS under the Kaczynski brothers, while those in Britain stood in lines to cast their votes in favor of Civic Platform. In Chicago, orchestras composed of the inhabitants of the Polish mountains played for we know who. Guided by his instinct, [Civic Platform leader] Donald Tusk promised tax breaks to emigrants at a rally in London, encouraging them to come back to Poland.

In other words what remains of American Polonia is disconnected from day-to-day life in Poland and Poland’s leadership has caught onto that. Most of what remains of activist Polonia is comprised of the Solidarity diaspora. The remainder is three or more generations removed from their Polonian ancestors. As the Young Fogey frequently points out, these ethnics (and by instance mostly Catholics) rarely if ever vote as a block. The last person ever widely supported by Polonia, as a block, was Edmund Muskie.

A relative decline in America’s significance is not merely a game of what are, after all, changing moods, but an obvious outcome of Poland’s historic accession to the EU. Europe is closer, and there are no borders. According to a recent poll, asked about their willingness and ability to take on work abroad, 48 percent of the Poles responded that they would go to Germany while —“ pay attention —“ 6.2 percent indicated the United States. Today, the inhabitants of the Polish mountains more frequently go to Israel as construction workers than to the United States, while Lomza and Mlawa have Brussels addresses.

Any data you care to name show that America is not competitive for the Poles in comparison with Europe. The map of the Poles’ (tourist) visits abroad in 2007 is as follows: Germany, 1.55 million people; Great Britain, 850,000; France and Slovakia, 450,000 each; the Netherlands, 400,000; Italy and Austria, 300,000 each, while fewer than 100,000 visited the United States. In 2007, remittances from Poles earning money abroad were as follows (according to National Bank of Poland estimates): Great Britain and Ireland, 4 billion zlotys [$2 billion] each; Germany, 1.5 billion and the United States, 450 million. Transfers from the United States, which accounted for as much as 13 percent of all financial transfers to Poland in 2004, fell to 4 percent last year. Among the students who went on scholarships abroad (for a period of no longer than one year) and somehow made it into the official statistics, 1,590 went to Europe and 61 to the United States. According to data from 2006, the Americans invested relatively little in Poland. The top spot was occupied by Luxembourg with 3.6 billion euros (probably pure capital), followed by Germany with 2.7 billion euros. Italy and the Netherlands ranked third at about 1.3 billion euros each. For the United States, the amount was 407 million euros…

Immigration is an economic engine. Attracting talent and labor are just as important as importing raw materials. The United States misses the mark here and Europe gains for our loss. Interestingly Poland is one of Europe’s economic engines while the U.S. engine is running out of gas.

Unfortunately, this [—divergence protocol—] has been extended considerably under the Bush administration: the Europeans are more critical about the president himself than about the United States, with the war in Iraq and the president considered the main reasons behind the worsening relations between the United States and Europe. Surveys demonstrate that if the Europeans had the right to vote in the upcoming U.S. elections, they would vote for Barack Obama. In any case, they expect better relations with the United States after Bush leaves office.

These divergence protocols have long demonstrated that the two sides of the Atlantic are inhabited by somewhat different races. “The Americans are more from Mars, the Europeans from Venus.” The Americans rely more on military power, the Europeans on democracy. They believe in individualism and liberal competition; we are more likely to talk about the quality of life and the need for social solidarity. In essence, the threats are the same, but the Americans are more afraid than the Europeans of excessive reliance on foreign energy resources, a serious economic crisis, and international terrorism, a situation in which Iran obtains nuclear weapons, and immigrants from Europe. The only thing that the Europeans fear more than the Americans do is the effects of global warming. With their opinions, the Poles are now closer to Western Europe than they were before. In this sense, we have joined the mainstream.

For a long time, America has been reopening wounds in relations with foreigners, sometimes complaining loudly that “they love us” or “they hate us.” Unfortunately, this country is not in the habit of making special efforts to win allies (especially under Bush’s tenure as president). If it reckons with anyone, this must be someone big. The Americans themselves know that they have wasted a large portion of the sympathy they have enjoyed since the 9/11 attacks, when Le Monde expressed the European mood by saying, “We are all Americans.”

Absolutely right. A wasted seven years, wasted good will, wasted relationships, wasted opportunities, and a wasting away of the U.S. social contract which was a key point of admiration especially in Poland. Sure we can delude ourselves in proclamations of self-love but eventually I hope we wake up and do our level best to reclaim what we were not too many years ago — in our own eyes and the eyes of the world.

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