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Top 5 things I like about Poland [56]
My Top 5:
1.
Uniqueness.
A unique bland of strong Latin civilisation, where ethics is the source of law and individuality and personal freedom are the vital parts of ethos and identity, with Slavic heritage; strong patriotism with roots in multicultural past (we were the first major multicultural melting pot in Europe) and respect for other nations and cultures (remembering, of course, the obvious superiority of ours).
2.
Attractiveness to foreigners.
Of which this forum is the best example (ethnic Poles living in Poland are a tiny minority here). Our culture has always attracted foreignes - we had large minorities from countries as distant as Scotland or Netherlands but they didn't remain minorities for long, they all assimilated into the Polish nation, accepting our language and culture as their own.
3.
History of being a benevolent, kindhearted empire that never travelled overseas.
From the 15th to 17th century, Poland was constantly expanding its territory through unions and wars, mostly eastward, bringing the light of civilisation and Polishness to backwards eastern peoples. By 1634, when it reached a maximal area of almost 1 million square kilometres, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was an empire ranging from the Baltic Sea to the Pontic-Caspian Steppe, incorporating the majority of today's Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, but also Latvia and even parts of Estonia.
Our expansion was stopped by an evil tribe, which name I shall not mention here, that until the present day brings war and destruction to its neighbours. How differently the world might look like if this evil nation didn't stand in our way 400 years ago. :(
4.
Sense of honour and fairness.
I can think of only one country in the over 1000 years of Poland's history that could claim to have been treated unfairly/betrayed by Poles. I'm not going to mention this in detail because it's a painful card in our history, but it's a single instance and a lamentable exception. Apart from that, Polish conduct was always honourable and chivalrous: we kept our alliances, were generous towards friends and merciful towards enemies. This always makes me proud.
5.
Overall greatness.
To cover this point I would need to write a book; it's waaay beyond the scope of a short forum post. All things considered, Poland in its entirety, when fully and properly understood, represents the peak of what human race should strive for, hope for and fight for. This fact is often obscured by trivial things and visible only to the trained eye and soul, but well worth the effort to study and cherish.
