Not so Polish an attitude.

"This is so not Polish!" we both said after the man left the room.

He was a waiter and he served us food during scholarship interviews last weekend. As it turned out, he worked for the government, but since the Swiss franc have collapsed (and the man had a debt in Swiss francs), he had to take on extra weekend work to be able to pay off the debt. Time was tough for him, but what surprised us most was how positive the man was. He had a beautiful 'can do'

 attitude: he needed extra money to pay off his debt so he simply went out and found extra work. 'It isn't that bad with jobs in Poland' he said, 'you just need to go out and find it. Some people simply don't want to work.' The waiter talked about people who went crazy for money and kept buying unnecessary things which often led to (more) debt.

We were amazed because what I usually see in Poland is a 'can't do' sort of thinking. Can't find work, can't pay off my debt, can't reconcile with my mother, can't have a healthy relationship with my husband. Can't, can't, can't and everyone is against me, especially the government. And here, this man, who undoubtedly found himself in a difficult financial situation and instead of sitting at home and being crossed with the entire world he tried to sort himself out.

Poland would be a better country to live in if more people had such an attitude. If more people were bothered enough to do something with their lives, even when live gets tough and the future looks dark. I always say that your attitude brings you halfway to success.