Szlachetna Paczka - a bitter coverage

I first hatched the idea of becoming a volunteer around June and followed it out in July. Worth noting that was the time the virus was retreating and I admit not to have predicted the epidemic would go in overdrive until late autumn as it did.

I was one of the first volunteers to have signed an agreement with Stowarzyszenie Wiosna (which runs Szlachetna Paczka) and to have gone through an online onboarding. Back at that stage I noticed poor organisation (my online training was called off and put back two times) and general deficiency of people. It seems even while the number of daily new infections was three-digit, some volunteers have decided not to sign up this year, to protect their or their family members’ health.

Beginning of my area taking shape also were sluggish. Recruiting volunteers was not an easy task. On top, even while more than ten volunteers were lined up, we could not kick off with first tasks, due to moor management skills of our area leader.

I have moaned about her a lot while talking to my girlfriend, parents or friends and don’t feel like going on about her again. She lacked managerial skills, failed in delegating tasks, even if she assigned tasks, did not enforce their completion. She did not keep a grip on all stuff she should have had control over as a leader.

Moreover, she and several area leaders from Warsaw gathered in early October to party hard and have infected one another with coronavirus (not a joke, a confirmed story from a person who decline to attend the party).

Consequently, we lagged behind with collecting histories of families which could have become beneficiaries of the initiative. Pandemic did not facilitate the task, as potential beneficiaries had so sign personally consent for transfer of their sensitive personal information to Szlachetna Paczka, which was impeded by the general social distancing. Finally, we got consents from around 35 families, short of our target of 75 families.

The next stage, visiting families, also was pursued behind schedule. Visits at people’s dwellings paid in the first half of November, coincided with the peak of new infections. With hindsight, I am asking myself what had prompted me to risk my health by visiting families which have eventually not been taken on.

The mechanism of verification whether a family deserves a wise aid does work well. For such reason around two third of families visited are turned away. I interviewed four families and have not decided to take on any of them. The first one in terms of approach to life was exemplary, but had a discretionary income of PLN 1,500 per person in a household, far too much to receive help. The second one was a mother bringing up a son, working, yet doing absolutely nothing to improve her life and waiting until somebody else comes and gives them gifts. The third one was a pure pathological family with little motivation to work, but with two TV sets in their council flat and a Netflix subscription. The fourth one was another mother raising two sons on her own, living off social care allowances, as she was jobless for too long to be eligible for a dole and took little effort to find a job.

A week before the final weekend everything was falling apart. We were in process of arranging our warehouse, lacked sponsors to provide us with food, lacked a lorry to transport bigger items and lacked a logistics plan. I was responsible for logistics and after a week of sleeping five hours a day and getting behind with work (home office facilitated sharing time between work and the Paczka) everything, except catering (closed restaurants are not that eager to get involved in sponsorship) was straightened out.

These days sanitary regime is a must. Szlachetna Paczka had procedures in place and allegedly had some contingency plans for the final weekend to be pursued in case of full lockdown. Procedures fortunately were obeyed at least when donators came to deliver parcels, but as no guests were around and volunteers were in the warehouse (indoors) masks were off. I kept away from the group of over ten people staging a covid party indoors, so when I was not carrying parcels or driving them to families, I stayed outdoors with two other volunteers who, like me, were afraid of keep company to our unmasked fellows (the shivered for two days). The day after the weekend I have purchased a genetic test at Medicover and I will be tested the day after tomorrow, long enough after exposure to the virus so that it is detected. Until now I feel fine, but I have not been in touch with any of the volunteers, so I do not know how participants of the covid party are feeling.

From what I heard from my workmate who was a volunteer at another district in Warsaw, sanitary regime was a theory out there was well, her common sense also told her to stay away from frivolous volunteers

Just like a year ago and two years ago, I was involved as a donator for families from Płońsk area. Yesterday I learnt in comparison to what went on in Płońsk, sanitary regime in Warsaw was exemplary. In Płońsk volunteers had no face masks, were keen on kissing and hugging donators, drink tea and treat them with a soup. Representatives of donators rushed to offload parcels, sign documents and hurriedly escaped the scene, outraged with gross irresponsibility of volunteers.

My general impression on what I was involved in is shaped mainly by the pandemic, which has taken away the entire joy of the initiative and brought in an element of fear. I am currently quite sensitive about how people abide by sanitary regime. I am fucking angry and frustrated with reckless behaviour of volunteers, who I call a bunch of brainless, f**king irresponsible morons (banda bezmózgich, j**anych, nieodpowiedzialnych debili). They helped some people, while put at risk life and health of others. I still can’t get over it. I am still livid at the mere memory of that carelessness, hazardous especially less than two weeks before Christmas, ahead of family gatherings. Ku**wsko wściekły jestem. Besides, I feel not comfortable about posting a coverage on facebook, on which everything looked out perfectly. Yet my intention was to propagate the initiative, not to spread bad word about the dark side of it.

It is too early for me to take a decision whether I get involved next year. For sure I will continue to be a donator, but if the pandemic does not wane considerably, participation as a volunteer is out of question. I am generally distasted after seeing the backstage of it, though still find the concept of the initiative and the wise aid commendable and worth being supported.

Have a healthy, responsibly lived through Christmas!

The Independence Day musings

Last Sunday PiS was given a marvellous beating in the run-off of mayoral elections. The party’s candidates were turned down in nearly all cities, including strongholds of Kaczynski’s grouping such as Radom or Podkarpackie province. With Chelm (63 thousand residents) being the largest city where elected mayor hails from PiS, the ruling party has seen a middle finger showed by non-rural electorate. In provincial Poland, the party keeps faring well though.

Tomorrow is a bank holiday. Formally enacted three working days in advance, plunging into chaos most entities whose workings are not based on spontaneity. An additional day off was put forward and passed into law by lawmakers and their notary who have little notion about how real life functions and definitely have never had insight into how difficult running an enterprise is. This unwanted gift, being a blatant violation of basic rules governing legislative process in a civilised country where a government is a predictable lawmakers, comes in useful especially for those willing to get tanked up today evening and cure hangover tomorrow (pardon, celebrate the Independence Day in dignity). My workload is not going to diminish because of the additional day off, but delay in my remont (slowly moving forward) will be one day longer and I will have to stay overtime to make up for the time lost tomorrow (hopefully the weather gets clement). Those far worse off are the ones who had doctor appointments or court hearings scheduled for tomorrow and will have to wait several months for another ones. Everyone had known in advance 11 November would fall on Sunday in 2018, the additional day off could have been decided several months ago, our economy would have afforded an extra day, but would have been spared the accompanying chaos.

The bank holiday was not the only part of celebrations organised at eleventh hour. On Wednesday, as the mayor of Warsaw banned (ineffectively, but respect to court ruling is overriding virtue) the nationalists’ march, president Duda and prime minister Morawiecki staged their own one. The upshot was that the government had to negotiate a common event with the far-right organisations. In practice, though formally there was only on march, it got split up into politicians of PiS marching peacefully at the front, and a whole lot biggest group of neo-fascists (and ordinary citizens) chasing them (shortly after 4 p.m. prominent politicians made away from the scene in their limousines). The nationalists, predictably duped the government, as the march was meant to be devoid of several symbols which were visible. The good thing is that riots did not break up and acts of vandalism were sparse, if any.

My own perception and pursuit of patriotism do not square with flag waving. I define patriotism as paying taxes, not throwing rubbish anywhere else but to bins, looking after common property, observance of law, respect for fellow men, small deeds which make a community’s life more comfortable.

Actually such shameful outcome of Independence Day celebrations is astonishing given how pompous in terms of patriotism the ruling party is. The upside of the disgrace is that with every next misstep, with every little piece their screw up, the number of mobilised opponents of the party grows. In less than a year, the government of PiS might be a memory (though at the moment the most realistic scenario is PiS winning, but lacking absolute majority and bound to eat up its coalitional partner or buy off single deputies from other parties), yet this is too little to be cheerful. Even if the oppositional parties get their act together or rather the ruling party continues with its string of failures, victory of Koalicja Obywatelska is not enough. Firstly, the winners must not fall out over the power sharing. Secondly, they must come up with a comprehensive plan how to mend what has been spoilt by PiS since 2015. Thirdly, several millions Poles being avid believers of Kaczynski still live in this country and this is their homeland as well, no matter how horrific their mindset for non-PiSites is. Few reasons for joy, several reasons to pull up sleeves, lots of work lies ahead.

History being rewritten

The Polish Internet has recently been flooded with humorous memes scoffing alleged accomplishments of Poland’s first back seat driver. The influx of mockery has been spurred by Mr Kaczynski and his servile henchmen (fellow politicians and reverent media) whose claims and deeds are aimed at changing roles of some people in Poland’s most recent history. Thus the official version of history, compiled by impious post-communist elites is set to be rewritten, to highlight roles of under-appreciated figures and to debase those whose merits have been undeservedly overrated.

Dear reader, feel ashamed not to be aware late president Lech Kaczyński was the deputy of Lech Wałęsa and actual leader of Solidarity movement.

Comment 1: beyond all doubt, Lech Kaczyński was one of the prominent figures in Solidarity since the inception of the movement, nevertheless no historian so far has dared to assert he had played the second fiddle in the movement.

Comment 2: beyond all doubt, Jarosław Kaczyński, despite holding no other function in the state than an ordinary lower-house deputy, is an actual leader of the group of people who formally exercise executive and legislative powers in Poland. The situation when a man actually takes decision but shuns responsibility for them is abnormal. I actually hope Mr Kaczyński takes over as prime minister.

Who is accountable for killing over forty Jews in Kielce and burning alive more than 300 Jews in a barn in Jedwabne? Minister of education in the PiS government lacked courage to admit those were Poles.

Comment 1: I would not put it down to Mrs Zalewska’s inadequate familiarity with Poland’s history.

Comment 2: A mature nation is capable of admitting to crimes its representatives committed, apologise for them and firmly condemn. Quibbling, as Mrs Zalewska did in the notorious TV interview, does not bring us closer to maturity in this respect.

You might think if Jarosław Kaczyński was not interned with the imposition of the martial law in December 1981, communist regime did not find him dangerous. Got it wrong my dear, the secret services planned to detain him, but accidentally did not do it, even though they had a chance to make up for it when Mr Kaczyński was shortly interrogated in the first days of the martial law…

Comment: You will not turn back time. On that frosty morning Jarosław woke up at ten a.m., went to church and in there found out something bad was going on. No bleak men knocked at his parents’ door to arrest him…

Who can take credit for bringing Poland into NATO? The omnipotent Leader and his crony Krzysztof Czabański! Any contribution of politicians such as Taduesz Mazowiecki, Bronisław Geremek, Aleksander Kwaśniewski? Who would care?

Comment: Wiadomości by TVP have become the most nefarious propaganda tube in Poland since 1989, beating by a long shot all previous SLD- or PO-affiliated circles of journalists and clearly biased coverage by TVN. From time to time I wrench my guts and watch Wiadomości. Selective choice of facts, failure to separate facts from comments and instructing audience what to think are now the distinguishing features of the main news programme, still financed from taxpayers’ purse.

And lastly, victims Smolensk crash is to be commemorated during each and every memorial of a historic event.

Comment 1: rationally, why mixing up fatalities of a tragic air crash with actual martyrs who died fighting for free Poland?

Comment 2: the decision to bring in Smolensk component into each and every occasion assisted by military forces is already making people laugh it off and in effect denigrates the remembrances of crash victims.

Having vented by anger at the above, I still underline rewriting the history is less detrimental than tampering with the economy (may the clearly debt-financed child allowance programme be enough) or with democratic institutions. The five hundred zlotys per child, a tangible proof how PiS kept their flagship promise, has lifted some people from penury, raised their living standards or simply bribed them off. Other voters could not care less, a few million genuinely believe PiS are mending Poland. Thus PiSites enjoy support reaching 40%, not because they have dismantled the constitutional tribunal, not because they are ruining public finances, but because they are the only party with agenda for Poland. No matter how strongly I disagree with the vision of Poland by PiS, I cannot deny the have what other parties lack.

Below, a derisive poem I could not resist to share, nimbly offending the better sort of Poles who vote for PiS…

BYŁ RAZ…

Był raz grafoman, wierszokleta,
Dziennikarzyna z bożej łaski.
Lecz się przedstawiał: wieszcz, poeta,
I ciągle czekał na oklaski.
Choć jego wierszy nikt nie czytał,
On niepowodzeń znał przyczynę!
Zmowa! Grubymi nićmi szyta!
Jeszcze - odgrażał się - wypłynę!

Podkreślał stale swe zasługi,
Że on jedyny pisze z sensem,
Sam się ogłosił raz i drugi,
Że niby polskim jest Brassensem.
Mając, jak twierdził, lekkie pióro,
Oceny podjął się z ochotą,
Co dobrą jest literaturą,
A szczerze mówiąc, był idiotą.

Był raz kabotyn, aktorzyna,
Przez całe życie grał ogony,
Lecz to nie moja – mówił – wina,
Że jestem wciąż niedoceniony.
Nikt do teatru nie chciał chodzić,
Oprócz lizusów i klakierów,
Lecz przekonywał: nic nie szkodzi,
To spisek bandy reżyserów.

Innych nazywał szmirusami,
Albo wyrażał się z przekąsem,
Kpił w żywe oczy, a czasami
Złośliwie mruczał coś pod wąsem.
Czy to był Hamlet czy Medea,
Do złej gry robił dobrą minę.
Chwalił się: zrobię dobry teatr!
Ale, niestety, był kretynem.

Był raz szarpidrut, muzykancik,
Blade pojęcie miał o jazzie.
O mistrzach mówił: dyletanci,
A sam rzępolił ile wlezie.
Choć jego grania nikt słuchał,
Grał w swym mniemaniu pierwsze skrzypce.
Czeka mnie – mówił - niezła fucha,
O władzy śniąc i złotej rybce.

Choć słoń nadepnął mu na ucho,
Wielkiego znawcy przyjął pozę,
Dziś z talentami – rzekł - jest krucho,
Tylko ja jestem wirtuozem.
Wmawiał, że jest muzycznym tuzem,
Choć był podrzędnym muzykantem,
Zapewniał: ja gram dobrą muzę!
A tylko zwykłym był palantem.

Był raz pacykarz, beztalencie,
Malował straszne bohomazy,
Lecz przekonany, że ma wzięcie,
Wystawiał wszędzie swe obrazy.
Nikt tych obrazów nie oglądał,
Świeciły pustką wernisaże,
Winę w kolejnych widział rządach,
Mówiąc: ja jeszcze wam pokażę!

Wszędzie miernoty i nieuki,
A ja? Świat jeszcze o tym nie wie,
Że to prawdziwe dzieła sztuki.
Reszta - gryzmoły i badziewie.
O innych mówić zwykł z pogardą,
Ja się – rzekł - znam na dobrej sztuce!
Swój kicz nazywał awangardą,
A był zwyczajnym, pardon, bucem.

Był raz polityk, nieudacznik,
Z rozdętym ego, z kompleksami.
Z nim osobnicy dość dziwaczni,
Nieudacznicy tacy sami.
Zebrał do kupy pacykarzy,
Niedocenionych wierszokletów,
Wziął dyletantów, dobrał łgarzy,
Wiedząc, że nie brak im tupetu.

Obiecał im: będziecie wielcy!
Sam przy tym się dowartościował.
Więc maszerują wierni strzelcy,
Historię pisać chcą od nowa.
A polityczna kusi scena,
Więc większość poszła jego tropem,
By ponoć z woli suwerena
Naprawiać Polskę, świat, Europę.

Dobrał frustratów, kabotynów,
Zawistnych, mściwych oszołomów.
Omamił, wezwał ich do czynu:
My nie poddamy się nikomu!
Dał szansę wszelkim grafomanom
I sam cytuje hasła wzniosłe,
To wszystko nazwał Dobrą Zmianą.
A jest zwyczajnym tylko posłem.

© MKWD (Muzyczny Kabaret Wojtka Dąbrowskiego)
Druk: tygodnik Passa, nr 26 (816), 30 czerwca 2016

Those interested in the alternative version of truth, seeking to free their minds, are advised to indulge in reading in Jarosław Kaczyński's autobiography. I am looking forward to borrowing this book, as I am not going to purchase it and support Mr Kaczynski financially nor contribute to higher popularity of the book measured by number of paperbacks sold. If I come by it, I promise to review it.