pilsudsk1
13 May 2014
Love / I'm getting married to a Polish guy and need advice before visit his family; gifts, topics, customs [82]
While I agree the grandmother is naive and should come to grips with her son being for all intents and purposes no longer Polish. As you stated yourself "doesn't bother with his culture".
But I am not understanding why you correctly stated "when you are in a mixed relationship" but then seem puzzled why Poland "is intolerant of others" (Not entirely true). You've explained how your husband (and I'll take a wild guess your Polish friends in mixed relationships) abandoned Polish culture. Then became involved with someone out of race. Currently what benefit to Polish culture is your husband and these other former Poles involved in mixed relationships? Chances of your son passing down Polish culture: language, food, history, ideals etc to his children is extremely low. You make it sound such that Poland is missing out and should be in a rush to dilute itself. I counter that by Poland staying true to itself, it will come out on top. After Western Europe has been successfully diluted and is culturally and socially a shadow of it's former self; Poles will know clearer than ever who they are and what they stand for.
You and your husband made your decisions and you sound happy. But you can't expect individuals that stayed loyal to their upbringing to simply go on with their day as if nothing changed. In terms of Poland, your husbands family tree is dead: chances of your son passing Polish culture down to his children is extremely low. The bottom line is if Poles during the Partitions or Iron Wall went down the same path of your husband, there might not be a Poland today. So we are happy for you as human beings but we don't have to applaud your decision. We are stubborn people and it's how we've survived for so long.
What I have also noticed is many Polish people now in the UK are in mixed relationships, something which is a taboo in Easten Europe.
While I agree the grandmother is naive and should come to grips with her son being for all intents and purposes no longer Polish. As you stated yourself "doesn't bother with his culture".
But I am not understanding why you correctly stated "when you are in a mixed relationship" but then seem puzzled why Poland "is intolerant of others" (Not entirely true). You've explained how your husband (and I'll take a wild guess your Polish friends in mixed relationships) abandoned Polish culture. Then became involved with someone out of race. Currently what benefit to Polish culture is your husband and these other former Poles involved in mixed relationships? Chances of your son passing down Polish culture: language, food, history, ideals etc to his children is extremely low. You make it sound such that Poland is missing out and should be in a rush to dilute itself. I counter that by Poland staying true to itself, it will come out on top. After Western Europe has been successfully diluted and is culturally and socially a shadow of it's former self; Poles will know clearer than ever who they are and what they stand for.
You and your husband made your decisions and you sound happy. But you can't expect individuals that stayed loyal to their upbringing to simply go on with their day as if nothing changed. In terms of Poland, your husbands family tree is dead: chances of your son passing Polish culture down to his children is extremely low. The bottom line is if Poles during the Partitions or Iron Wall went down the same path of your husband, there might not be a Poland today. So we are happy for you as human beings but we don't have to applaud your decision. We are stubborn people and it's how we've survived for so long.