I spent 15 years in the UK, moved back to Poland 3 years ago. I know what you mean, it can be grim. People have no filter, which is a blessing and a curse. My advise would be this, make sure you appreciate the good, honest people that wish you well. You can usually build very deep relationships with little artifice ... and avoid the toxic people that wish you and others harm or are indifferent to the suffering of others. Polish people usually say what they mean and you can feel out the vibe very quickly. No point wasting time and getting exhausted by toxic relationships. When you understand that, everything becomes a lot easier and you dont have to force yourself (or anyone else) to maintain unhealthy relationships. It makes you appreciate the good people you meet that much more.
Excellent observation. Paradoxically, this is perhaps the legacy of communism which people mistakenly and exclusively associate with poverty, greyness and boredom. Poland under communists was materially poor but intellectually quite vibrant. High culture flourished while access to popular/mass culture was restricted. Polish cinema after 1989 is a pale shadow of the cinema of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Polish popular music of those years is also superior to today's music. People used to read books, now they watch funny videos on RU-vid. Most Poles went through comprehensive high schools which had a broad curriculum focused on learning serious matters in depth. The list of books to read was quite long and contained only classics. In Australia, where I live, intellectual effort is not appreciated and serious conversation is rarely possible because people have a very superficial knowledge of the world. Music, films and books are treated as products and what matters is how much money they can bring.
Hey, man. Don't "ungrip" Yourself from Poland, try to understand it as well as You can. Living among Poles is a good way to achieve this goal I think. Good luck with that and God bless.
Jeesus, this is not depressing what he just said, people. Comon. He is giving Poland a compliment. Comments below prove how serious we are. We take everything personally and filter thru our inferiority complex. Have some proud and care less.
Our country has been harassed and destroyed too many times, based on the suffering of our ancestors, we feel that it is time to renovate this wonderful country and this cannot be done without taking the fight seriously. God honor the homeland.
Haha, what a positive clickbait title! Clever plot twist, I admire it! And yes, this seriousness can be exhausting. I also have the feeling that we take every little thing and attach to it the seriousness sign. Sometimes we can wage a "social war" for truly incredible details. Yeah, we absolutely need to learn to let some stuff go and just wave a hand at it. But after taking a moment to think about it, I think that just like you, most Poles including myself would choose "overseriousness" than risk taking something with too little of it. It may be dangerous , it may cause chaos, it may hurt someone. You can always tone it down and make a joke about it - it's waaaay more difficult to come from a joke to a serious matter (if not a pro comedian on stage). Then you're not sure if the person is still joking or being superficial or takes it seriously for real. Besides, if everything is so serious... it's easier to notice a joke! Personally, it saves my life because I'm autistic and in real life it's difficult sometimes to differentiate. Here I have it much easier because of that! One of my foreign friend summarised it quite accurately in my opinion. "When Poles are serious, you know. When they joke, you also know."
Naaah, we're not serious people. And Poland is not a serious place. Like the proverb goes "one who lived in Poland, does not laugh in circus. For he has seen it all"
What exactly do you mean? Some examples would help me understand what exactly is serious in Poland. I've lived here and in other countries and didn't notice that Poland was less superficial. My observation is rather that Poles are more fatalistic and when faced with a problem, they are likely to have a "jakos to bedzie" attitude, hoping it will go away on its own and sweeping it under the rug. (Maybe that can be mistaken for seriousness.) Other countries are perhaps more optimistic and proactive in solving problems.
I think it is often connected to Polish identity and how patriotism/nationalism and religion operates. People are far more extreme in their beliefs in Poland than I am used to, and this there's a seriousness in the culture -- there seems to be far less apathy. Perhaps I am speaking about a certain generation, but even looking at the rise of Konfederacja, which has the support of a lot of younger people, is somehow surprising to me and different than what I am used to in Canada.
@@lerubenfeld The effect of polarization and extremes was much smaller 15 years ago. I think it's the result of social changes across the Europe (that includes migrations) and social media - people are more informed, but are also easier to manipulate. Before PiS and PO(KO) political parties there was not that much anger in society. I don't think the religion has that strong effect now. The influence of the Catholic Church in the society is perpetually diminishing.
@@lerubenfeld Konfederacja-- yes, but it is about 10%. That's not a majority. Have you perhaps watched the comedy “1670”? A series in which the jokes are quite often about nationalist stereotypes. We have a tendency in Poland, especially meeting such hardcore nationalism (BTW. the commentator above writes that it's a matter of social change, migration, and the PO-PiS conflict; and I would ask how much of this is Putin stirring and fueling disputes; because among the most extreme nationalists there is a lot of cooperation with Putin, against the EU, NATO, and Ukraine; and the rise of nationalism itself correlates well with the anti-Western turn in Russia's policy); and then you meet something that totally contradicts the stereotype. For example, there was a prevailing opinion that Poles can't laugh at the tragedy of World War II -- as if the movie “How I Caused World War II” had been forgotten.
@@lerubenfeld This reads like you're saying that Poland is quite xenophobic. Or I'm reading it wrong, in which case I apologise. The reason I read it this way is that actually I DO think Poland is xenophobic and a lot more than any other country I've lived in.
i dont know how it is in Canada because ive never been there but i lived a year in Portugal on my student year, meeting lots of people from different countries and i gotta say some of their habits and attitudes are way different then ours. For egzample portuguese folks tend to say for "tudo bem" for a greetings which is like asking how are you or everything allright? And they reply the same shit. At first i used to tell them how am i, what i did recently and you know, the stuff you say when someone asks you how are you. Becaues in Poland when u say this you real mean it, you are curious and want to know about other person. There, in Portugal its compleatly fake, they dont rly care what you say. Its probably nothing rude, just a custom but it just shows that people in there have different approach. Yea, they live life more on the ease but at the same time are not that straightforward and honest as we are.
...A co do tego, że bycie tu jest męczące i wyczerpujące..może to jest prawda ... a może nie. Na wynik obserwacji ma wpływ obserwujący, jego cechy, oczekiwania, stan ducha....taki efekt obserwatora.
THat is all true. I feel it too. I have lived in Scandinavia and the UK for many years and now back in Warsaw. My Polish managers are so annoying and micromanaging so it puts a strain om my mental well being. I feel my spine goes tense and aching. Just a local climate.....
That is true ! But this applies primarily to some todday people, mainly politicians, clergy, who behave this way and to some historical events that are more or less important.
So for all the Poles here, this man just gave Poland a complement… you’re just too Polish to understand it… like Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy. Pozdrawiam chory naród!
Going through the flow of insecurity filled comments you can come up with one more conclusion about Poland and it's people and that is the fact that you either speak well of them or not at all
Nice one! ( the skit ) But I agree, Poland has not much cool. But then again, it was an enslaved nation till fairly recently. Polish mind-state, soul-state, after occupations by vicious adversaries, after Nazis then communist was like those of Jews leaving Egipt: they wanted freedom, but at the same time their habits engrained in them by tyrannical systems, wouldn't let them see the bigger picture, and relax. Also, the poverty that was here after all that was huge. But you know that.
some Poles are cool, bombastic, quick-witted and sarcastic, some, I for one, are stiff, dim-witted, dead serious and dull ... ; break away from the enslavement by your simplistic views through getting out of the house more, mingling with pple and comparing notes with them; and just play it cool.
Historycznie mało wiarygodna jest ucieczka z Egiptu. Izraelici byli zawsze w konflikcie z Egiptem i może ta historia o opuszczeniu Egiptu jest symbolicznym opowiadaniem, miała pewnie znaczenie moralizatorskie, przenośnia jakaś...Gdzie Żydzi mieli się udać ??? W owych czasach Egipt był dominatorem w Kanaanie, więc gdzie mieliby uciec ??? W morzu sitowia zginął faraon a w żadnym dziele historycznym nie ma o tym wzmianki. Gdyby zginął faraon wielkiego Egiptu pisaliby o tym wszyscy. Pozatem masz rację, ucisk, tyrania, niewola zostawia piętno.
I totally get what you mean. I live in the UK and I don't like that here many things are lacking depth. People don't celebrate anything here apart from Christmas - e.g. celebration of chocolate and consumerism. On the other hand, Poles could use a bit more lightness with their approach to life. But that's not going to happen. PTSD in the nation is too strong. Plus we have our freedom for just 35 year, after 2 centuries of being under someone else's rule. And now Russia jumping again. So yeah...
Is that possible that your attitude (jewish society)is created by 700th years jew's presence in PL? I mean that mentality could be created by it as your relatives came from PL.
As a Polak who grew up in Australia I know exactly what you mean. You can't go deep with Australians. But Polish need to calm the F down sometimes. Just want to say 'oh nice shirt' or 'thats a cool tattoo who is the artist' and you get this 'wtf what is going on' look on the faces of Polish people. It's also not older people. Old people love to chat pretty openly I noticed. Something broke the spirit of people during communism I think and now it's just become part of the culture.
This Canadian is right. I'm 40 years old, but sometimes I'm fed up with this seriousness. Everyone is criticizing you 24/7 for everything. It's like a religion. I'm not usually aware of this, but thanks to his observation I now realize that this is indeed the case.
So true. They obviously look for some hidden messages when you just say you like their shirt or bag and mean nothing more than that 🙄 I'm Polish and I noticed this many times so I stopped talking to strangers...
@@ewaevva4375 Ale Pani Ewa, naprawdę uwież mi jak mowie że jak z osobami starszymi rozmawiam tak 65+ tego nie ma. Często lubię z starszym panem lub panią lubię pogadać na przystanku lub przy bloku. Przypominam sobie że tydzień temu Siedziałem na przystanku z żoną i starszy pan przyszedł do mnie z ręka i mówił 'dzisiaj moje imieniny!', pogratulowałem i się pośmialiśmy.
Excellent diagnosis of the main character of Poles-Poland :) it's interesting and seriousness has got two ends like in everything . That's why I totally understand your exhaustion as a Pole. To fully assess it is not simple.. It also comes from knowledgeable drive of Poles , hardships of life, weather conditions, closeness, introvertism, positive and overgrown as well which definitely causes kind of alienation and feel of despair, hopelessness. On the other hand this demanding air makes people to more independently seek understanding and enlightenment. And these two cannot be reached in circumstances of artificiality.. All best!
You are exhausting. We are the safest country in Europe. Our economy is developing very well. We have never had a recession. We don't have a problem with immigrants. If you don't have enough impressions in your life, go to Russia or Belarus. There you will experience emotions as long as you come back alive.
