As the number of victims grew daily in that truly “Biblical” disaster, Poland, along with other nations, became deeply engaged in rescue operations and in raising funds and dispatching material (mostly medical) help to Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia. The natural catastrophe in Asia also had a psychological and a social dimension: it demonstrated how small and vulnerable our World was, and, on the contrary, how brave and helpful men and women caught in extreme situations could be. The response of the Polish people to the devastating results of the disaster was swift, logical and generous. At the moment of the trial, we became united, forgetting about the hardships, the quarrels and the problems dividing us on ordinary days.

For experienced journalist who has seen so much trouble here and abroad, the events of the last days of December 2004 and the following weeks of the New Year became a refreshing example of human solidarity. Just a few weeks before the earthquake and the tsunamis, Polish people cheered and supported the “Orange Revolution” in the neighboring Ukraine. For some, older observers, it was like a revival of the first “Solidarity” from the early 1980s. For the young, it was a good chance to show their own solidarity and support to the Ukrainian people trying to shed the dictatorship of a repressive and corrupt regime. Fifteen years after our own “peaceful revolution” in 1989, the two surprising events - one near by and the other far away - stimulated us to look back at our own country and to start a new change in 2005.

For, even without external stimulation, the New Year would bring about a significant change to Poland. By virtue of the Constitution, 2005 will be the year of two national elections: the parliamentary and the presidential ones. The last years of the rule of the post-communist Left were marked by positive (though disputable) foreign policy decisions: Poland’s admission to the European Union and our participation in the anti-terrorist alliance. But on the domestic front, the rule of the Left left us with numerous scandals and a mismanaged government. It’s only due to the hard-working and ingenuous Polish private business that a country plagued by scams and poor administration, showing a 20% official unemployment rate and growing poverty, could have recovered from an economic crisis and could have achieved an over 6% rate of development.

It took us fifteen years to realize that Poland badly needed removal of communist influence in political and economic life. Many scandals and forced improper decisions could have been avoided if the former activists of the Com-party and the former members of the communist special services and their informers were deprived of their rights to be active in public life and hold high offices. Secrecy, blackmail, mafia-like business, and foreign infiltration through secret services plague Poland even today. But many Poles are more determined than in the past to get rid of this criminal scourge and build a public life that could be truly open and free. It is also necessary to change the bad laws and encourage a free and competitive economic life.

Whether the election to Parliament occurs in June (that would be the best time) or in September, this is a great opportunity to end the post-communist “era” and offer a new chance to the Republic. In the Fall, the Polish people will also choose their new President and will vote the Constitution of the European Union. At the end of the same year, the Polish military engagement in Iraq could also be ended. So 2005 will be really a year of change in Poland, and the public “wave” bringing about the change won’t be a devastating tsunami but a beneficial “flood” refreshing our life.