Today it's a tragic historical day. 96 people, all important members of the polish government (including the president and his wife) have been killed in a plane crash together. Half of the regime! No matter the politics, the nation is crying today and I, born in Poland and still having most of my relatives living there, wanna you to know this:

Poland has a long history of pain and suffering. Once the most powerful kingdom in Europe, spanning half of Germany, down to the Balkans, most of the Ukraine, Georgia, Belarus, 1/2 of Euro-Russia, the Baltics, and Finland,  in 1795 it has become an invisible nation with no government. Poland's territory was partitioned among the Kingdom of Prussia, the Russian Empire, and Austria. In 1918 (after 123 years!) it regained independence, but only some years later it's become a captive nation under Soviet and Nazi rule. Throughout it all, Poland has always held its head high and lived on with pride, dignity and identity.

The memorial event (the symbolic reconciliation between Poland and Russia over the Katyn massacre in World War II, over 20.000 polish officers have been executed by the Russians) that the President and dignitaries were about to attend  was to look back at the pain and atrocities of the Stalin and Hitler eras. It was a chance to express grief for the millions dead, and to stand up as a nation on its own, independent and a friend of the world. Instead... the head of state and many top leaders and citizens perished. Yet another Polish day of suffering.....

Of course one could say, so many plane crashes, so many people are dying every day and only because they were all leader of the government, the world is making a big deal about it. I agree. I don't think highly of politicians anyway. But this time it's about much more! It's about the entire future of Poland right now.