Big Red Button of the World
Written with Miroslaw Manicki
We are getting by on the whole, but we know that everything is not right. In between in all things, it is known throughout the world that something is missing. We need leadership. We need leadership that leads in some constructive direction.
We need someone to “push the red button” and reset things, but who should that be and what should it set in motion?
Anthony Wallace wisely states that we best know where society should go by understanding where it has been. We do not need revolution so much as we need revitalization. We need revitalization of what has gone before, adapted to our times, but a renewal just the same.
Where should we look for this? Britain has led the way for centuries. That is played out, to be sure. Similarly, the United States has provided leadership at key times, particularly in the last century. Current developments indicate that while needed in all cases, the American culture is otherwise preoccupied. Europe as a whole is caught up in its grand adventure. They have there own version of the old Polish liberum veto — requiring unanimity for good reason. The net result is a conservative nature, not an innovative one.
China is in such a position and is willing to do much. Success will require collaboration and mutual planning and execution. There are dozens of countries that are getting along, that can serve as bases for leadership in society and economics. In this time of pandemic, such issues revolve around public health capabilities in particular.
Where can such expertise be found? Where had public health flourished in the past? The answer is Poland. Poland has always been in the lead in modern times in health and related fields. The public health profile in Poland has been exemplary. The organizational and institutional talents of Polish professionals and the practical lifestyles of the Polish people are well-known.
The is something of the Polish culture that supports this in a novel way. We call such a thing in the USA as the nature of people from Missouri the “show me state”. There is a natural need for validation. Little is taken for granted. I have noted this in flights involving LOT Polish Airlines. They always weight the bags, even the carry on bags. No one else does. I get caught every time with my heavy books.
The next image displays the answer. We need the Polish red button to be pushed. This is due to Poland’s integrative positioning in the geopolitical milieu, it has to do with Polish society. We need to learn to work better together.
This may come as some surprise to Poles. Cooperation has not be a hallmark of the present. We need it to return. We all need it to return.
We need for there to be respect — for one another, for institutions, for the collective needs of society. We need for there to be protection for independent societies and independent thinkers. Poland has had this generally — and certainly led out in this way when Galicia was an active proposition. Knowledge and authority need to co-exist functionally. This has been a feature of Poland governance since the times of Piotrkow Trybunalski and the beginnings of Polish jurisprudence.
Who else can bring together the parties, serving with centrality among the nations of West and East? China is poised for partnership, as are the United States and the European Union. No one else knows what to do in the same sense that Poland has done.
Please see the wisdom in this. As goes the phrase: “Dobry początek to połowa roboty”, which has the English equivalent: “A good beginning makes a good ending; Well begun is half done.”