USA, Canada / Polish and Ukrainian image in Canada? [4]

Anyone I have met over the past forty or so years tend to tell Newfie jokes...jokes about people from the province of Newfoundland...and 99% of the Newfie jokes were told to me by people from Newfoundland to begin with.

I haven't heard the derogatory term "pollack" for about 30 years! Unfortunately, I believe it was my grandfather who used the term...a bit unusual considering his mother was Martha Czapiewski and her family came from Kalisz.

And also, most of my friends are HUGE Pope John Paul II fans, have read his books etc. and thus would never insult the Polish, even in jest.

I lived in Manitoba for about eight years and there is a huge Ukrainian population out there. I never heard any jokes about these people.

Maybe I just live a sheltered life!

News / 14 year old rape victim from Warsaw denied abortion! [348]

Well - all I can add to this conversation is that we have an example of a child being born out of sexual assault in my family.

By the time my young cousin found out she was pregnant (six months) it was too late to abort the child.

Out of an act of violence we have a beautiful new member of our family. She is now 15 years old and of mixed race. This lovely young woman has changed our family for the better. No one tells racists jokes about African Canadians anymore.

What would our lives be like without this lively, happy and intelligent young woman? We would be missing a jewel in our family.

So, all I can say is - out of tragedy comes something beautiful...a new life.

Her mother - with therapy and support, is a healthy individual who does not look at her daughter as a memory of rape - but as a gift.

I cannot say this "happy ending" would or will happen to anyone else - but I can only hope that this fourteen year old girl can move forward. If she gives the child up for adoption I hope it has a long and wonderful live. If she keeps the child, I pray that she never looks at her child with flashbacks of how her existence began.

I must add, that we are a mixed family of Catholics and Protestants - co-existing, close and strong. The cousin who had the child out of sexual assault came from the Protestant side, so religion had nothing to do with the decision not to abort the child.

Marie