Journal 73 – A new chance for Central and Eastern European courtiers

In my journal 68 I have written that Europe is going to its new days. It is true. A few years after the Bolsheviks revolution (1917), the Soviet Union was established (1922). Lenin died in 1924. After Lenin’s death, Joseph Stalin took power in the Soviet Union. He was a cruel dictaror, who ruled Russia for almost 3 decades until his death in 1953. Stalin’s successors were: Chruschev, Brezniew, Chernienko and Andropov. In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev took power and after him was Boris Yeltsen. Only they both were leaders of the new generation.
Russia, as a communist country, existed from 1917 to 1991. Boris Yeltsen resolved this empire. It is true that the Soviet Union kept the hard arm many Central and Eastern European countries: Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Hungary, DDR and Albania.
Only in 1990s, Communism collapsed as a result general offensive. This process began from Poland. Europe, this Old Continent, took a new breath. Mentioned above countries and the former Soviet republics began to build their new future. One of these countries is Poland. This transition period isn’t easy, but Poles believe in the better future and they don’t give up. It is great that after a few decades, Eastern and Central Europe joined to democratic Western civilization.

Journal 72 – Hiroshima’s tragedy the 52 anniversary

Today is August 6, 2007. All people in the world remember Hiroshima, this Japanese city on which the first atomic bomb used was dropped.
It was the summer time in the year 1945. The Second World War was over in Europe in May 9, 1945. In the Pacific Ocean WW II was still going; it Japanese didn’t surrender. In April 1945, President Delano Roosevelt passed away. Hurry Truman took power after Roosevelt’s death. The United States plane dropped a single atomic bomb on the center of the city. Three days later, the Allies dropped a second atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki. Japan surrendered to the Allied forces on September 2, 1945. The atomic bomb destroyed about 5 square miles of the city. About 100,000 people are estimated to have been killed by the bomb. Many people died later from the effects of radiation.
Hiroshima, which lies on islands formed by a river delta on the shore of the Inland Sea, was rebuilt after the war.

Journal 70 – The Century’s Decline by Wislawa Szymborska

In my previous journal I have written that the twentieth century experienced many cruel events. Right now, I would like to show you what the one of the most famous Polish poets thinks about that period. I am giving the voice to Wislawa Szymborska a winner the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1996. The title this poem is The Century’s Decline. The poem was translated by Prof. Stanislaw Baranczak from Harvard University.

The Century’s Decline

Our twentieth century was going to improve on the others.
It will never prove it now,
now that its years are numbered,
its breath is short.

Too many things have happened
that weren’t supposed to happen,
and what was supposed to come about
has not.

Happiness and spring, among other things,
were supposed to be getting closer.

Fear was expected to leave the mountains and the valleys.
Truth was supposed to hit home
before a lie.

A couple of problems weren’t going
to come up anymore;
hunger, for example,
and war, and so forth.

There was going to be respect
for helpless people’s helplessness,
trust, that kind of stuff.

Anyone who planned to enjoy the world
is now face
with a hopeless task.

Stupidity isn’t funny.
Wisdom isn’t gay.

Hope
isn’t that young girl anymore,
et cetera, alas.

God was finally going to believe
in a man both good and strong,
but good and strong
are still two different men.

“How should we live?” someone asked me in a letter.
I had meant to ask him
the same question.

Again, and as ever,
as may be seen above,
the most pressing questions
are naive ones.

Journal 69 – The cruel twentieth century

The twentieth century was one of cruelest period in the human history. This century experienced two world wars: the First World War and the Second World War. World War I was lasted from 1914 to 1918, and World War II was lasted from 1939-1945.
The Second World War began on September 1, 1939, when Nazi Germany invaded Poland. During World War II, and after it’s, were killed several dozens millions people. It was estimated that the same number of people could have died because of governmental repressions against its own citizens. The Soviet Union is a good example in this cause.
Unfortunately, prognosis for XX century isn’t optimistic. Many present conflicts have a source in the previous century.

Journal 68 – Europe is going to the new days

In my previous journals I have written that life very accelerated in the last decades. I deem that an Old Continent is one of the most dynamic areas in these days. Europe is experiencing its renaissance. If we want to understand present processes in this continent, we have to go back to World War II. I will devote my next journal these problems.

Journal 67 – The Italian poet with a camera passed away

Today is date July 31, 2007. Michelangelo Antonioni, one of Italy’s most famous and influential film-makers, passed away in Rome. He was 94. Some consider that he was the cinematic father of modern alienation. Critics state that Antonioni’s best films The Adventure, 1960, and The Nigth, 1960, concern people who have lost their purpose in life despite financial success. I am interested in this problem. At the present, many people suffer for these reasons. I would like to see these movies.
Antonioni has achieved international acclaim with Blow-Up, 1966, and his first English language film The Passenger, 1975.
I didn’t know Michelangelo Antonioni before.

Journal 66 – Ingmar Bergman passed away

Today, on July 30,2007, Swedish director Ingmar Bergman, passed away at the age of 89.Bergman died at his home in Faro, Sweden. A cause of death is unknown. Woody Allen said in a 70th Bergman’s birthday, that Bergmann was probably the greatest film artist since the invention of the motion picture camera.
Bergman became famous for his complex studies of guilt, morality, and religious faith. Most of his films are highly symbolic. Bergman’s the most acclaimed films include Smiles of a Summer Night, Virgin Spring, Fanny Alexander and The Magic Lantern. The last of them has an autobiographic character.

Journal 65 – Gordon Brown visits the USA

Prime Minister Gordon Brown traveled to the United States on Sunday. Gordon Brown makes his first visit to the USA as a British new leader. Brown’s predecessor, Tony Blair, was often accused at home of being too compliant with the policies of President George Bush. Some analysts have urged Brown to be more like Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and Winston Churchill. They both had close ties with the USA, but reminded frank about own policies.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown arrived in the USA with British foreign secretary David Miliband. Bush met Gordon and they exchanged small talk.
I have written about Gordon Brown in the journal 25.

Journal 64 - Mentally illness more and more popular nowadays

We are observing more and more the mentally ill people. I am convinced that many factors decide about this situation. One of them is more stressful and complicated life than it was a few decades ago. Our civilization very accelerated. A few decades ago our life was more stable. Right now, the young people have to undertake many new challenges which my generation didn’t experience. No one doesn’t prepare youth to a new situation. A school always was out-of-date; life was going before it.
In the past, families undertook the most educational duties. Right now, parents are very busy and they don’t have a time to care of about their children. Each next generation is smarter than previous, but the young people have more emotional deficits than their equals a few decades ago. What in the future will be? Who knows it? I think that many developed societies in the present world aren’t conscious this situation. Some scientists are warning about the future, but I have feeling that nobody hears their voices.

Journal 63 – My friends’ children

I spent my childhood in the small village. In these times, I was one of the habitants who studied at the college. My neighbor had two mentally under-developed children. The neighbor’s wife scared the assault when she was pregnant with her first child. My neighbor asked me, “Stefek, you are a well educated person, please help our children. Tell us to kinds of doctors we can go”.
I felt for them; simultaneously I knew that they didn’t understand that an undergrowth and mentally illness are two different things. We can explain it use a very simply comparison. An under-developed person is one who was rich for whole his life. However, a mentally ill person is one who was rich but he lost his wealth. It isn’t my idea. I learned it during my studies. My professor made this kind of comparison and I remembered it for whole my life.
One little explanation. Stefek is my nickname.

Journal 62 – My mother’s mental illness

We shared at the class our experience with a mental problem. I forgot about one important event in my early childhood. When I was 10 years old, my loved mother was mentally sick. She was getting on for fifty. She stayed at hospital for a few months. It was a very sad experience, because I was a very sensitive child. My father and I visited my mother many times. I remember this huge hospital complex which consisted of many buildings with black stripes. I didn’t understand then, and I don’t know now what they symbolized.
One time, when my father and I visited my mother, I brought her wild strawberry which I picked up in the forest located next to our home. When we visited my mother the next time, she felt much butter than before. It was a crucial moment in her illness. Maybe these wild strawberries which I gave her from my heart helped her for recovery. My mother got well soon and lived longer than my father. She passed away at the age of 83.
I remember my visits in the complex hospital with great clarity. I remember this sound when doors creaked and slammed. I asked my father, “Father, are there screaming the crazy people?”. When I repeated my question many times, my father lost his patience and said, “Shout up, my son”.
After a few decades, I remember these events with a big pleasure. I loved my parents and I tried to help them. I think that I was a good son. I am convinced that they pray to God in heaven for my health and success.

Journal 61 – Mourning in Poland

Today is July 22, 2007. The world agencies informed about an accident the Polish bus in France. The bus was carrying Polish pilgrims from a holy site in the Alps. It crashed into a river bed and burst into flames next to Grenoble. 47 pilgrims, two drivers and guide were on the bus, 26 of them were killed.
Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, expressed his condolences to Polish President Lech Kaczynski. On Sunday, two leaders spoke by telephone. Today, French Prime Minister Francois Fillon was to visit the crash site. Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski was flying later Sunday to visit the site of accident.

Journal 60 - Ben Bernanke replaced Alan Greenspan

A position chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is very important and prestigeous. I have written before that Alan Greenspan occupied that position for 18 years. The USA is a powerful country and plays an important role in the global economic politics. Alain Greespan was a well known official in the world. Greespan's successor Ben Bernanke was appointed FRS Board's chairman only in 2006.
Ben Shalom Bernanke is 54 years old. He graduated from Harvard University. In 1979, he received a Ph.D. degree in economics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). From 1985 to 2002, he served as a professor of economics at Princeton Universtiy, Stanford University, MIT and New York University. Ben Bernanke is the author of several books about economics and economic history. Bernanke became a member of the Fed's Board of Governors in 2002, and its chairman in 2006.

Journal 59 - The Federal Reserve System

Federal Reserve System (FRS) helps oversee the nation's banking system. FRS is known as the central bank in the USA. FRS assists the U.S. government in managing the economy by encoruraging economic growth and controlling inflation. The Fed performs many financial services for the federal government. The Fed has 12 Federal Reserve Banks and 25 Federal Reserve branches (FRB). All national commerical banks are required by law to be members of teh Fed.
The Fed police is directed by two main committees: the Board of Governors and the Federal Open Market Committee. The BG has 7 members appointed by the President of the United States to a 14-year term (a chairman serves for four years). The FOMC conists of the Fed governors, the predisent of the New York City FRB, and the presidents of four other FRB's.
I will not write about duties these organs, because they are broad. I am convinced that everyone who wants to understand a global economic politics should be familiar with a role how plays FRS.

Journal 58 - Ben Bernanke a chief Federal Reserve System

Ben Bernanke, an American economist, became chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in 2006. The Federal Reserve System is commonly called Fed. It is a independent federal agency that directs the United States banking system; it helps control the nations interest and money supply. Dr. Bernanke was appointed by President G. Bush and he to succeed Alain Greenspan. I remember Alan Greenspon's activity. He retired after serving as Fed chairman for 18 years.

Journal 57 - Bernanke's statement

The whole world was waiting for Fed Chief Ben Bernanke's statement. Who is he exactly I will write in my next journal. What Bernanke's main arguments are.
Mr. Bernanke stated that inflation will probably recede and that housing weakness might spread to slow other areas of the economy.
The dollar fell against the euro, and was flat against the Canadian dollar. Dr. Bernanke warned that a one construction slump could lead to slowing growth in the USA; the current housing problems are also weighing on the market.
Both crude oil and gold futures rose over 1% as the dollar fell against the euro. Today, traders bought gold and sold the dollar.
A little curiosity, grains jumped today: soybeans gained nearly 2% and corn rose 1,4%.

Journal 56 – The first person on the moon – an 38th anniversary

Today is July 20,2007. On July 20,1969, Neil Aldon Armstrong, a United States astronaut, was the first person to set foot on the moon.
Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo 11 lunar modeule Eagle on the moon. Armstrong left the module and explored the lunar surface.
Armstrong was born on August 5, 1930 in Auglaize County. He developed an interest in flying at the early age. From at the age of 6, he was fascinated by aviation.
In 1947, Armstrong began studies in aeronautical engineering at Purdue University. He became a Navy pilot and was sent to Korea in 1950. He flew 78 combat missions in Korea. Armstrong made his first space flight in 1966 on Gemini 8 with David R. Scott. In 1970, Armstrong resigned from the United States astronaut program and earned a master’s degree in aerospace engineering at the University of Southern California. From 1971 to 1979, Armstrong was a professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Cincinnati.
From 1982 to 1992, Armstrong served as chairman of the board of Computing Technologies for Aviation.

Journal 55 – The 63rd anniversary of attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler

On July 20, 1944, exactly 63 years ago, Col. Claus Stauffenberg, 1907-1944, tried unsuccessfully to assassinate German dictator Adolph Hitler. Adolph Hitler took power in 1933 and led Germany to World War II.
Stauffenberg was a colonel on the German general staff. He initially supported Hitler. Next, he like some other officers, was repelled by Nazi brutally and anti-Semitism. In 1943, Stauffenberg was badly wounded during the North African campaign. He was removed from active service and reassigned to the reserve army staff in Berlin.
Later, Stauffenberg became one of the chief member’s conspiracies against Hitler. He was one of them who planned to kill Hitler. On July 20, 1944, Stauffenberg planted a bomb in Hitler’s headquarters in Rastenberg. The bomb exploded but Hitler wasn’t killing. Stauffenberg and a few other officers, member of conspiracy, were executed that evening.
This village where that operation happened is located in my region in Poland. The Polish name this town is Gierloz. I visited this historical place many times.

Journal 54 – The observer visited our class

Yesterday was July 19, 2007. We had ordinary but a little different classes, because the observer visited us. An observer is a person who watches how lessons are going. He mainly values teacher’s job. He is interested in what kind of methods a teacher uses, how he explains a new material and how he helps students to achieve the proper skills. It is good if students are active.
After a practical finish, observer and a teacher analyze classes. A teacher should first explain what kinds of goals classes had, why he used these and not other methods, what kinds of mistakes he made etc.
I am convinced that our observer was very happy, because Anita is an excellent teacher. Anita, we wish you an A plus. We love you!

Journal 53 – The tragedy in Denver

Denver is the capital and largest city of Colorado. It is a center of snow sports. Yesterday, in Denver was happened the tragedy.
A man carrying a gun and declaring, “I am the emperor and I’m here to take over state government”. He was shot and killed outside the offices of Gov. Bill Ritter by a security officer.
The man didn’t fire his weapon. The building has no metal detectors, because they were removed in January. The governor is fine. Investigators don’t know the man’s name and his motive.