AUSTRALIA MYTHOLOGY
Culture is an adaptation to the conditions in which people must survive. Different conditions produce different
cultures, but beneath them we may still find the same human emotions.
I am writing about Poland not to judge it, but to use it as a mirror. By understanding the mechanism that operated
there, I can later recognise the same mechanism in Australia, even when it appears in a completely different form.
One example is the Warsaw Uprising. Its leaders were people of above-average ability, courage and influence. But
exceptional ability does not automatically mean moral maturity. Driven by national emotion and heroic ideas,
leaders can become willing to sacrifice an entire generation to achieve their objective.
When I left Poland, I did not understand this as clearly as I do today. I was young and lost. I only felt that
something was wrong in a culture that tried to overcome its sense of inferiority through heroic struggle and
sacrifice—sometimes by attempting what it had no realistic possibility of achieving.
I did not leave because I knew Australia was better. I left because I assumed it was a more developed society,
where people helped one another instead of obstructing one another. It was an assumption, not knowledge.
Before leaving Poland, I tried to find my place in several workplaces and three different cities. Again and again, I
encountered competition resembling roosters fighting one another. Working in those conditions felt as though my
individuality was being destroyed.
Eventually, I returned to Wrocław and began repairing televisions through the permitted craft system. I obtained a
licence, access to parts and the freedom to advertise my services. When the limitations were removed, I became
very successful. On some days, I earned almost as much as my father earned in an entire month in a managerial
position.
This success gave me independence and built my ego. It proved that I was capable, but it did not give me
happiness.
I first touched real happiness while still at school, when I donated blood anonymously, without expecting
recognition or anything in return. Many years later in Australia, while performing the ordinary task of hanging
washing on a line, an indescribable feeling came to me. For two or three days, I felt as though I were walking on
clouds and no longer belonged entirely to this ordinary world.
Only then could I understand the difference.
Success can produce satisfaction. Money can provide comfort. Achievement can build the ego. But none of these
necessarily creates happiness. The state I call happiness cannot be understood through its definition. It must be
experienced.We do not create happiness—it comes to us when we overcome the challenge meant to shape us from within.
This is why I am not saying: “Believe what I believe.”
I am saying:
Do not harm yourself. Do not repeatedly close your own door to something whose existence you may not yet
understand.
A recidivist is not only someone who repeatedly breaks human law. It may also be a person, institution or culture
that repeatedly harms others, ignores the consequences and continues to justify the same behaviour.
The purpose of this text is not punishment or condemnation. It is recognition.
The past reveals the causes.
The present shows the consequences.
The future depends on whether we are willing to change direction.
