not once did I witness such respect for the less fortunate
0_0
Sorry to hear that, Ptak, but it was exactly as I described at every single workplace in my life: an electronic components factory, all the schools, the university. Come to think of it, it was exactly like that when I worked abroad too. So perhaps it's not a Polish-American thing, but a general European-American cultural difference. I don't know - maybe it's different in corporations, but corpos are in general sick places and best avoided.
I see it in the USA every day
But what PolAm described to us earlier, when it comes to "pecking order" and "knowing your fvcking place" in America, is completely opposite.
after 5 years of university education he was earning less than a cleaning lady at our school
Well, he must have been a very lazy person then. Most teachers (guys) I know work 2 full-time jobs (at 2 schools, or a school/uni combo), conduct matura courses at the weekends, are engaged in private tutoring, work for educational publishing houses, conduct trainings of various kinds for private companies etc. The only situation in which this could have been possible is a guy at the very beginning of his career, working a single job (probably part-time) at a single school and not doing anything on the side. Normally, in a big city (and Kielce is not that small), a teacher who is diligent and self-disciplined can earn as much as an engineer/programmer. Actually, when I switched from engineering to teaching (mostly Physics these days), I started earning more than I did as an engineer.
you went from gleefull snickering that Ukraine's turbo-diplomacy was out-turboed by Fuhrer Trump
That was a single post and provoked by rumours (which I mentioned in the very same post) that the banderite Zaluzhny was considered a hot presidential prospect for Ukraine. In general my views on the whole affair haven't changed at all: I still support Ukraine in their war against Russia, still am a huge Russophile anti-Putinist, and still don't like banderites/crypto-banderites.
Your awe and admiration will be repaid in full 20 to 30 years from now, when the banderite hordes sweep across Poland and disembowel your grandchildren.
Do you remember what Duda said to Putin? "Nie strasz, nie strasz..." :) :) :)