Stanislaw Barszczak—Blue sky of May — Dear Reader, now I will fight for you, and for the modern illness and the frailty of human faith. It may be better. It’s nothing that today I am already a diver on the sea depths of our vices and smallness. I just want to write about it in the near future, the drama on the anniversary of the first of May, memorable big parades of working people. Because I walked away from the ideals of mothering. I remember when I went to school, my name was “Stach”, that was associated with a proverb: “Stach, chickens on the roof, young lady in the chimney and cap, you die.” This is stupid, so my ‘nickname’ was a bit confusing. What is it mom? My mum was really a very deeply religious mother. I see her always as a shepherd in the field. My ‘piano’ (enthusiasm for the purchase of books)-as the idea of a child, she did not take too seriously, because she felt as not talented enough in that direction. My mother quite clearly expressing his right to a child. What is probably a very “motivated” me. And indeed, I always wanted to be somebody, so I first started during a vacation from high school to study music. Since I was in a school run by priests, which severely treated music and literature. It is a tragedy of this school that was not enough performances there. But this time I read a lot and it was really great literature: W. Hugo, A. Seghers, M. Sholokhov, A. Pushkin, J. Conrad, J.I.Kraszewski, H. Sienkiewicz, E. Orzeszkowa, John Parandowski and others. In my childhood I had a moment of shyness, which is expressed in the fact that I am ashamed mum, who was slightly older than one’s of my colleagues, I remember too, that in the absence of self I blushed in the face during the Polish lessons. My continuation of the church led to a strong emotional relationship with the Church. After my baccalaureate in Czestochowa we went to Krakow. There were the theaters there: ‘Bagatela’, ‘Old’, ‘Slovacki’. That was the line of my personal destiny. After all, I was born in Tarnowskie Góry, moreover, the near Cracow, and so I’m not an opponent from abroad. Chased by the Polish word, full of artistry ”I had no plan B. I was going to be a writer or nothing”.As for the dreams of what I wanted to be, I must say that I always wanted to be a good priest, but I’m not in that respect-I guess-more talented than my fellows. I caught up on the parish pastoral and lecture demonstration test. Then I went back to Krakow, this time not lived in the seminary but in the convent of the Goodbrothers (Boni Fratres). I never cease to study human-size. By chance I saw somewhere a poster who pointed to a concert. I thought, “I will try to understand the philosophy of time and then go back to literature.” But seriously, I stayed in the theater forever. What is it mom? My mom was very wise and very open. One said:” Try to write, it’s might not boring!” My mom was not disappointed that I’m not going in the direction of music, of course I also wanted to be a doctor. When I finally went in priesthood I was finally happy. She said that the most beautiful day of her life, it was celebrating of my first Mass. Now I pray, I was a good priest. Is this a job for life, for I do not know … First of all, I was fortunate to know some outstanding people. I was in Krakow, where I was almost always a little from the outside, although I am a Pole … now I notice more of the daily human struggle. I understand life, which is a bit of ballet … which I’m interested because of the fact that it remains here as closely as possible the phenomenon of action. The great thing is that everywhere can now be realized in all dimensions – and this is most important to me – to work together for a good cause with the best people. This makes it all work is so exciting and beautiful – and although it is also difficult, it is always rewarding. In this work a writer in touch with the theater, opera (it seems to me that no accident ever studied the entire guide and the brand opera) I feel something so strong and deep, what I would call a big rooting in good … Opera is an art form of the past. The theater should be taken even the most radical interpretations of classic pieces. Working in groups of actors, made rationally, it becomes really clear and has a spectacular fruit. And while sometimes you can see even the rejection of any art, it is understandable – and it is also very interesting. This means that sometimes there are issues in which several people can be incredibly nervous on stage … After touring the Arbat in Moscow a month ago, I took a piece of Maxim Gorky titled “People like people.” Written by the show was based on the art of Gorky titled “The Zukovs”. After his stay on the island of Capri Gorky returned to Moscow and made that middle-class drama, and drama that does not lose its topicality. Maxim Gorky was a leading proponent of critical realism in Russian literature, one of the authors of the most famous in Russia. He devoted himself to the observation of social life (a radical idea for its time). In the face of the transition to a new, more complex “modern” world that is moving irrevocably towards the revolution. In his play “The Zukovs”, exposes the gap between generations – and between the sexes – on the threshold of one of the most resonant social upheavals, the Russian Revolution of 1917. Written in 1913, relates to the drama OF Antipa Zhukov, selfish timber merchant. Antipa and his son Misha, they live with his sister Sophia, who married a nobleman landowner, but remains a widow and childless for the past six years. Misha is engaged to a beautiful Pavla, but this is a bit naive. To Pavla for herself, Antipa breaks filial engagement and marries her, with predictable disastrous results for all concerned. Among the characters interesting role in the drama is Sophie, the moral center of the drama. It seems to me that the actress is of a vast field of possibilities. However, it should not play this role too lightly. I wish, so that she was our Zosia from the poem of Mickiewicz. Here are some thoughts Gorky, the last quote comes from this drama: “Every new time will give its law.” “We kill everybody, my dear. Some with bullets, some with words, and everybody with our deeds. We drive people into their graves, and neither see it nor feel it.” “In the maxim of the past you cannot go anywhere.” “The intelligentsia …was kept busy embroidering white stitches on the philosophical and ecclesiastical vestments of the bourgeoisie – that old and filthy fabric besmeared with the blood of toiling masses.” “When work is a pleasure, life is joy.! When work is a duty, life is slavery.” ”One has to be able to count if only so that at fifty one doesn’t marry a girl of twenty.” In the monologues Gorky allows himself to blunder escape from reality, but the general tenor of the drama, there is the difference of generations, the complex father and son that is very positive. You have to do be diligent. How to use modern marvels, you must be a great prophet of tomorrow … The theater fourth April 2011, there was full one. When I look at the beautiful Hall of the theater with balconies, lodges, “poses”, with a modest scene, hiding behind the Arbat’s sun there has been a moment I was tempted to jump up and do what pleases me. Suddenly I think it’s good that you can not do what you want. House from the outside is so beautiful, I do not know the old traditions and history of this house, it is ultimately so that people come here because of the performance repertoire. That is a wonderful house that is the center of town, on the promenade near the old palace Arbat’s the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. All social efforts aim to ensure that the house alive, that is changing, that people come here. The theater is there to tell people about the man. This makes the theater is realized by means of language also. Emmanuel Lévinas says that thought is born of a sober mind – created in uncertainty and unexpected brilliance. For Levinas thought arises in the interface between personal experiences and structures, inherited by subsequent versions of metaphysics, which is a decrease in both cursed and blessed, because you cannot simply be dismissed. And so, even when language deceives, it remains for Lévinas the space yet another rationale. The thing is that it is consciously applied strategy of “entangling” of the word experience. Lévinas is convinced that the language of his own creative power constantly pulls out the world from ruts beaten, re-establishing the relationship between subject and reality. From this point of view, saying it is not an innocent act, and the style is not an ornament, but is intended thinker seeks to break the rigid dictates of reason. In this connection there is a best source interpersonal discourse, which was to govern is not descriptive but prescriptive language game … Director of the City Opera in Munich, Nicholas Bachler said recently: “The theater, as long as it exists, can be inspiring, it can be the builders can strive b lightening can be disturbing, even repellent. This means that the transfer of all the emotions that are present in man, moved to the theater and are there-and they have to be there. Because of the relationship to the present and highly debated aspect of the interpretation, what can I say now about the theater: “We want to see today through the eyes of an old factory,” You can do it and look at Shakespeare as an example, he took a handful of ancient material and moved it on the ground of the Renaissance. It then appeared on the scene a woman. “But what our eyes now? To be free from any errors … H. Heine wrote: “Once I was the only country. Oak there was so high and delicate violets. In the dream it all grow. He just kissed me completely like German man, spoke German to me. And now the end of this sentence shine (sadly almost did not evaluate how well it sounded): “I love you madly”, because the country has always remained a dream. “Dear Readers. I’m coming to you, do not want to stand over the masses, lead, man’s soul after the parade rolled up the flag and go to work. Together with the new Blessed, Pope John Paul II, a Pole, I want to be one of you for ever, feel the force be with you, your strength; like a man without a doubt, your great man – with his own private history, Rzecki of new a spring … As a boy something drove me in the wide world, with the mother I would go to the countryside to the family, but also to Czestochowa and Krakow. I remember Adam and me we went to Warsaw. Then, by accident, a poster contributed to my flight from Krakow in the direction of Salzburg and the Cote d’Azur. Let these memories of the Moscow theater, on the threshold of a new “first of May” now, it will reveal the enormous deposits of azure sky, faith, hope and love.

Stanisław Barszczak—Błękit majowego nieba—

Kochany Czytelniku, teraz będę walczył za Ciebie, i za współczesne choroby wiary człowieka. Może być lepiej. To nic, że dziś jestem już nurkiem po głębinach naszego morza przywar i małości. Właśnie o nim chcę napisać w niedalekiej przyszłości sztukę na rocznicę pierwszego maja, pamiętnych wielkich pochodów ludzi pracy. Ponieważ odeszłem jakby od ideałów matczynych. Pamiętam, że gdy poszedłem do szkoły powszechnej, moje imię “Staszek” było kojarzone z przysłowiem: „Stachu kury na dachu, panna w kominie, czapka ci ginie.” To głupie, więc moje ‘przezwisko’  było trochę mylące. Co na to mama? Moja mata była naprawdę bardzo głęboko wierzącą matką.  Widzę ją zawsze jako pastuszka na łące. Mój ‘fortepian’ (zapał do zakupu książek) -jako ideę dziecka, nie brała zbyt poważnie, bo ona się czuła jako nie wystarczająco utalentowana w tym kierunku. Moja mama dość jasno wyrażała swoje prawo w dzieciństwie. Co prawdopodobnie bardzo “umotywowało” mnie. I rzeczywiście, zawsze chciałem być kimś, więc najpierw zacząłem podczas wakacji od szkoły średniej studia muzyczne. Ponieważ byłem w szkole prowadzonej przez księży, w której poważnie traktowano muzykę i literaturę. To jest dramat niniejszej szkoły, że było mało przedstawień. Ale w tym czasie czytałem bardzo dużo i to było naprawdę wielką literaturę: W.Hugo, A. Seghers, M.Szołochowa, A.Puszkina, J. Conrada, J.I.Kraszewskiego, H. Sienkiewicza, E. Orzeszkową, Jana Parandowskiego i innych. W dzieciństwie miewałem chwile nieśmiałości, które wyrażały się w tym, iż wstydziłem się mamy, która była nieco starsza od mam moich kolegów, pamiętam też, że z braku samokontroli pąsowiałem  wówczas na lekcjach polskiego. Moje trwanie przy kościele zaowocowało mocnym emocjonalnym związkiem z Kościołem. Po Częstochowskim bakalaureacie pojechaliśmy do Krakowa. W Krakowie były teatry: Bagatela, Stary, Słowackiego. To było po linii moich osobistych przeznaczeń. Wszak urodziłem się w Tarnowskich Górach, skądinąd niedaleko Krakowa, a więc nie jestem przeciwnikiem z za granicy. Goniłem wówczas za słowem polskim, pełnym artyzmu…Jeśli chodzi o marzenia kim chciałem być, to muszę powiedzieć, że zawsze chciałem być dobrym księdzem, choć nie jestem w tym względzie-myślę- bardziej utalentowany od moich współbraci. Zatracam się na parafii w pokazowym duszpasterstwie i lekturach badawczych, a następnie udałem się na powrót do Krakowa, tym razem zamieszkałem nie w Seminarium a w klasztorze Ojców Bonifratrów. Nie przestaję studiować o wielkości człowieka. Przez przypadek gdzieś widziałem plakat, który wskazywał na jakiś koncert. Pomyślałem: “Postaram się raz zrozumieć filozofię, a potem wracam do literatury.” Ale pozostawałem tak na serio zawsze w teatrze. Co mama na to? Moja mama była naprawdę bardzo mądra i bardzo otwarta. Raz powiedziała: “Spróbuj pisać, może ci się to nie znudzi!” Moja mama nie była rozczarowana, że ​​nie idę w kierunku muzyki, owszem chciała mieć lekarza. Kiedy wybrałem ostatecznie kapłaństwo była szczęśliwa. Mówiła, że najpiękniejszy dzień w jej życiu, to były moje prymicje. Teraz modlę się, żebym był dobrym księdzem. Czy jest to praca na całe życie, nie wiem…Przede wszystkim, miałem szczęście poznać kilka wybitnych osób. Byłem w Krakowie, w którym byłem prawie zawsze trochę z zewnątrz, chociaż jestem Polakiem …Obecnie więcej spostrzegam z codziennych batalii ludzkich. Rozumiem życie, w którym jest trochę baletu…który interesuje mnie z racji na fakt, że pozostaje się tutaj możliwie najbliżej zjawiska działania. Wspaniałą rzeczą jest to, że wszędzie obecnie można się realizować we wszelkich wymiarach – i to jest najważniejsze dla mnie – żeby współpracować w dobrej sprawie z najlepszymi ludźmi. To sprawia, że wszelka praca jest tak ekscytująca i piękna – i również choć jest trudna, to zawsze satysfakcjonująca. W pracy literata, w kontakcie z teatrem, operą (wydaje mi się, że nie przypadkiem kiedyś studiowałem cały przewodnik operowy Kańskiego) odczuwam  coś tak mocnego i głębokiego, co nazwałbym dużym korzenieniem w dobru…Opera jest formą sztuki przeszłości. W teatrze powinno się podejmować nawet bardzo radykalne interpretacje sztuk klasycznych. Praca w grupach aktorskich, podjęta rozumnie, naprawdę staje się zrozumiała i osiąga spektakularne owoce. I gdy czasami widać nawet odrzucenie jakieś sztuki, to to jest zrozumiałe – i to również jest bardzo ciekawe. Oznacza to, że czasami są kwestie, w których kilka osób może być na scenie niesamowicie zdenerwowanych…Po spacerze przez Arbat w Moskwie przed miesiącem wybrałem się na sztukę Maksyma Gorkiego pt. „Ludzie jak ludzie”. Scenariusz przedstawienia został oparty na sztuce Gorkiego pt. Rodzina Żukowych. Po czasie pobytu na wyspie Capri Gorki powrócił do Moskwy i pisze ten dramat mieszczański i obyczajowy, który nie traci ze swej aktualności. Maksym Gorki był wybitnym zwolennikiem realizmu krytycznego w literaturze rosyjskiej, jednym z autorów najbardziej znanych w Rosji. Poświęcił się obserwacji życia społecznego (radykalny pomysł na tamte czasy). W  obliczu przejścia na nowy, bardziej skomplikowany “nowoczesny” świat, który porusza się nieodwołalnie w stronę rewolucji. W swojej sztuce “Żukowy”, demaskuje przepaść między pokoleniami – i między płciami – na progu jednego z najbardziej rezonansowych przewrotów społecznych, rewolucji rosyjskiej z 1917. Napisana w 1913 roku sztuka dotyczy Antipa Zukowa, samolubnego kupca drewna. Antipa wraz z synem Mishą, mieszka z siostrą Zofią, która wyszła za mąż za ziemiańskiego szlachcica, ale pozostaje wdową i bezdzietną przez ostatnie sześć lat. Misha jest zaręczony z piękną Pavlą, ale ta jest nieco naiwna. Chcąc Pavlę dla siebie, Antipa urywa synowskie zaangażowanie i poślubia ją, z przewidywalnym katastrofalnym wynikiem dla wszystkich zainteresowanych. Spośród  bohaterów ciekawą rolę w dramacie ma Zosia, centrum moralne sztuki. Wydaje mi się, że aktorka ma tu ogromne pole do popisu. Nie powinna grać jednak zbyt lekko tej roli. Marzyłbym, żeby była taką naszą Zosieńką od Mickiewicza.  A oto niektóre myśli Gorkiego, ostatni cytat pochodzi właśnie z tego dramatu: „Każdy nowy czas daje swoje prawo … Zabijamy wszystkich, moja droga. Niektórych pociskami, niektórych słowami, a każdego naszymi czynami… Zawozimy ludzi do ich grobów, nie widząc ani tego nie czując … Nawet przy maksymalnym ujęciu przeszłości, nie można pójść w dowolnym miejscu… Kiedy praca jest przyjemnością, życie jest radością, kiedy praca jest obowiązkiem, życie to niewolnictwo … Inteligencja, była zajęta haftowaniem białych szwów na filozoficznych i kościelnych szatach burżuazji – stare i brudne tkaniny zbroczone krwią mas pracujących … Trzeba umieć przeliczyć wszystko, tylko dlatego, że przy pięćdziesiątce nie wychodzi za mąż dziewczyna lat dwudziestu.” W monologach Gorki pozwala sobie się na gafę ucieczki od rzeczywistości, ale ogólny wydźwięk dramatu: różnicy pokoleń, kompleksu ojca i syna, jest bardzo pozytywny. Trzeba czynić swoje, być sumienny. Jak się służy cudom współczesności, to trzeba być wielkim prorokiem jutra…Sala teatralna czwartego kwietnia 2011 roku, była zapełniona. Kiedy patrzę na tę piękną Salę teatralną z balkonami, lożami, „pozami”, skromną scenę, kryjącą się na słonecznym Arbacie, to miałem przez moment pokusę skakać i robić, co mi się tylko podoba. Naraz myślę, że to dobrze, że nie możesz robić co chcesz. Dom z zewnątrz nie jest tak piękny, nie znam starych tradycji i historii tego domu, to ostatecznie tak, że ludzie przychodzą tu z powodu wydajności repertuaru. Tak jest cudownie, taki cudowny, wspaniały dom, że jest to centrum miasta, przy promenadzie w pobliżu Starego Arbatu i pałacu Ministerstwa Spraw Zagranicznych. Wszystkie społecznikowskie wysiłki mają na celu zapewnienie, że ten dom żyje, że się zmienia, że ​​ludzie przychodzą tutaj. Teatr jest po to, aby powiedzieć ludziom o człowieku. To sprawia, że ​​teatr realizuje się za pomocą języka. Emmanuel Lévinas powiada, że myśl nie rodzi się w trzeźwym umyśle – powstaje w niepewności i w nieoczekiwanym blasku. Dla Lévinasa myśl rodzi się bowiem na styku prywatnego doświadczenia i struktur odziedziczonych przez kolejne wersje metafizyki, która jest spadkiem zarazem przeklętym i błogosławionym, bo nie można go po prostu odrzucić. I tak nawet kiedy język zwodzi, pozostaje on dla Lévinasa przestrzenią innej racjonalności… Tymczasem chodzi o świadomie stosowaną strategię „oplatania” doświadczenia słowem. Lévinasowi nieustannie towarzyszy przekonanie, że język własną kreacyjną mocą wyrywa świat z utartych kolein, na nowo ustanawiając stosunek pomiędzy podmiotem i rzeczywistością. Z tego punktu widzenia mówienie nie jest czynnością niewinną, a styl nie stanowi ornamentu, lecz jest przeznaczeniem myśliciela dążącego do przełamania dyktatu sztywnej rozumności. W tym kontekście mówi się o najbardziej źródłowym dyskursie międzyludzkim, który miał się rządzić nie deskryptywną, lecz preskryptywną grą językową…Dyrektor Opery miejskiej w Monachium Mikołaj Bachler powiedział niedawno: „Teatr, jak długo istnieje, może być inspirujący, może być budujący, może b yć rozjaśniający, może być niepokojący, nawet odstraszający. Oznacza to, że przeniesienie wszystkich emocji, które są obecne w człowieku, przeniosły się do teatru i tam się znajdują- i mają tam być. Ze względu na stosunek do teraźniejszości i wielce dyskutowany aspekt interpretacji, co mogę powiedzieć teraz o teatrze:”Chcemy zobaczyć dzisiejszymi oczami starą fabrykę” Możesz to zrobić i spojrzeć na Szekspira jako na przykład: brał garściami starożytny materiał i przetransportowywał go na grunt renesansu. To wówczas pojawiły się na scenie niewiasty.” Ale jakie są nasze oczy teraz? Mają być wolne od wszelkich błędów… H.Heine napisał: „Raz miałem jedyny kraj. Dąb tam był tak wysoki, a fiołki delikatne. W nim wszystko rosło marzeniem. On właśnie ucałował mnie zupełnie po niemiecku, mówił do mnie po niemiecku. I teraz do końca zajaśniało to zdanie  (niestety prawie się tego nie ocenia, jak wspaniale ono zabrzmiało): “Kocham Ciebie do szaleństwa”, albowiem kraj ten na zawsze pozostał marzeniem.” Kochani Czytelnicy. Wracam do was, nie chcę stać nad masami, przewodzić, po pochodzie duszy człowieczej zwijam flagę i idę do pracy. Razem z nowym błogosławionym, papieżem Polakiem Janem Pawłem II chcę być jednym z was na zawsze, czuć siłę z wami, waszą siłę… wasz niewątpiący wielki człowiek – z prywatną historią własną, Rzecki nowej wiosny … Jako chłopiec gnało mnie w szeroki świat, z mamą jeździliśmy na wieś do rodziny, ale także do Częstochowy i Krakowa. Pamiętam z Adamem wybraliśmy się do Warszawy. Potem przez przypadek plakat przyczynił się do mojej ucieczki z Krakowa w kierunku Salzburga i na Lazurowe Wybrzeże. Niech te moskiewskie wspomnienia teatralne, na progu nowego „pierwszego maja”, odsłonią w nas olbrzymie pokłady lazurowego nieba, wiary, nadziei i miłości.

Stanislaw Barszczak—In search of Nantucket (Land health) —

I   In the traditional village in Côte d’Ivoire—

Village Biancouma, strain Yacoub, lies in the north-eastern part of Côte d’Ivoire. The road divides the contemporary Muslim village from the traditional village, as if frozen in the Middle Ages. You may see old-sage Shakwonda close a place of worship, the temple of a round marked to distinguish it from surrounding homes youb tree.  To join him Jewel, a teenage Negro.  That Niger-boy I am somewhat fortunately for my mother. See also Michael missionary and a nurse Helen sitting at solar noon there. They seem to be in accord with local custom, eating cooked with boiled bananas aloco, on the table is the local beer Bock. —

(In a traditional community, which is essentially African village, the social patterns differ from strain to strain as their language, myths and the names of the gods. Huge spaces, especially for a wandering villager, who is on an uncertain and foreign ground after passing several kilometers, produced by centuries of cultural mosaic. Between lifestyle and religion, there is a symbiosis. Anthropology of religion is primitive, for example, in strain Guer in triple “elements” of man: the body, inner strength (souhou) and soul – the source of human personality, distinctiveness it from animals that have the first two elements. Man dies when it deprives souhou. A man may have a common souhou with the animal, so that the death of an animal causes the death of a man who shares a souhou. The community is not based on a document written life is governed by custom. The customs are deeply ingrained beliefs, motivated them, and human activities have their “supernatural” facilities. Although many decisions are taken collectively, the strains have their individual religious and secular authorities. In the important social circumstances some strains refer to the mask. She is surrounded by mysticism and the cult, because it carries God’s strength. By her man connected with the invisible world and calls to it only in serious situations requiring the intervention of God, such as drought, war or disease. Mask so full major role in the life of strain, and from its decision shall be final. Belief in the effectiveness and power of masks is delivering the desired results. Mask has its mystical origins – is not made by man, but it is believed that the woman found it by accident in the woods. In all the villages is a sacred place, the victims, the location of important social events. At the entrance to Tireli, stands the sacred pole in the form of a male, for centuries to protect the village from the enemy. Here the victim is made up by asking for blessings. In the village center is Toguna, based on four stone pillars with carport imposed hundreds of levels of straw, so high and visible. This place is a sacred symbol of the unity of the tribe, gives the social power and authority. Here and in the square in front of him held meeting of the elderly, socially important ceremonies such as initiations of introducing young people to community life, or – every three years – ceremonies of the liberation of the spirits of the dead links from their village to be able to unite his people. Here, too, held ritual dances associated with all the major occasions of life, expressing the joy of life, requests and thanksgiving for rain, for example, for the harvest. Communities are generally closed in terms of custom, language and religion. Men, women and children have their place and tasks of social and family, and the boundaries between them are relatively close and impassable. There are a number of formal attitudes and behaviors of functioning in the strain. What is needed is a few months indoctrination of young people taking place outside the village and without contact with her in the jungle or the savannah. Here, qualified elders bring valuable insight into the maturing youth in life, learn traditions, knowledge of medicinal herbs, courage, resilience to pain, self-reliance, family responsibilities. It ends with the initiation of giving full-fledged participation in the life of strain. Violation of the customs associated with serious social consequences for the ostracism, including: parents cut themselves off from the children from their community members. Access to the other strain is nearly impossible because it would require the initiation of the strain, and that in adulthood, no longer does. Solitude is sometimes tantamount to a death sentence. Of course, there are also less severe form of expiation, but the compensation is always required. The issue of continuity is the primary strain, thus plays an important role in fertility. There is polygamy. Looking from the side is difficult to explore this intimate side of life strain. One of the accentuation of words of sexual side of human life is a circumcision. Religious justification for circumcision is apparent from the belief that man is born with a dual soul, male and female. Male female soul is in foreskin, while men in women in clitoris.  Man to function properly in society, the female soul in men and male in women must be removed. Thus, circumcision in a traditional society relates to both women and men. Male circumcision, depending on the strain, is in infancy or in adolescence. The latter is done in groups, ceremoniously. For example, in the village of Songo (Mali), in the richly decorated with symbols  a cave rock collective circumcision takes place a collective circumcision of the local youth. Uncircumcised men may not be a full member of society and participate in the decisions of the strain. Developed formalisms associated with marriage also reflect the attitude to life. Depending on the strain, they include a number of steps ranging from brokers and gifts between the parents of future spouses to the final approval of the bride who expresses her silence. The charity does not speak openly. And marriage are arranged exclusively by parents, even in infancy or before puberty children. Similarly, the important role played by the presence at the funeral of people connected with the deceased. Violation of this practice leads to serious conflicts between the families. In strains the women and men have separate huts there. A man is obligated to provide each hut’s wife. Thus the potential “real estate” refers to the possibility of Dating in the polygamous community. Religion is not a theoretical abstract, dogma, but the concrete of everyday life where beliefs, traditions, courage and fear, life, group and family structure are closely related. Attitudes, as individual and social survival projection of the surrounding reality, take on a religious character, and appear to be in the form of textured spirits. Africans have a spiritual relationship with the world. An unspecified factor – the “spirit” has a positive or negative impact on his life. There is one God, the Creator, generally synergistic in the act of creation with the female element, for example, from the ground. But God is remote, inaccessible. He is not spirit, but the highest strength. Contact him requires intermediaries. For example, in strain Guer, Ivory Coast, the road to God – Gnonswa (etymologically: the source of man) runs through the spirits of ancestors and the “priest” – srassagnan) —Old-sage Shakwonda starts by casually,  No one dies without a cause, even an old man.  God, who provides for all, will not desert us; especially being engaged, as we are, in His service. There’s an old story… a legend, about a bird that sings just once in its life. From the moment it leaves its nest, it searches for a thorn tree… and never rests until it’s found one. And then it sings… more sweetly than any other creature on the face of the earth. And singing, it impales itself on the longest, sharpest thorn. But, as it dies, it rises above its own agony, to outsing the lark and the nightingale. The thorn bird pays its life for just one song, but the whole world stills to listen, and God in his heaven smiles. Jewel, the realist, tells his master, I sometimes think that all you tell me of knighthood, kingdoms, empires is all windy blather and lies. Shakwonda said, earlier the order of knight-errantry was instituted to defend maidens, to protect widows, and to rescue orphans and distressed persons, he said, all this must be suffered by those who profess the stern order of chivalry. You must have made this sacrifice that knights-errant and their squires must give to their higher calling now. We believe, a knight without a lady is a body without a soul. Catholicism and its doctrine of free will, rejoices over his freedom, telling his listener, Liberty, Jewel, my friend, is one of the most precious gifts that Heaven has bestowed on mankind. Old-sage after rejecting his stories of chivalry, tells his boy, shamefully, my judgement is now clear and unfettered, and that dark cloud of ignorance has disappeared, which the continual reading of the detestable books of knight-errantry from Spain had cast over my understanding. Our greatest foes, and whom we must chiefly combat, are within. You know what the worst crime of all is? Being born. For that you get punished your whole life. What does that mean? I said. I’m not sure, Shakwonda opined. A knight must not complain of his wounds, though his bowels be dropping out. To right the unrightable wrong. To love, pure and chaste from afar , to try, when your arms are too weary , to reach the unreachable star. Not well? What is illness to the body of a knight-errant? What matter wounds? For each time he falls, he shall rise again, and woe to the wicked. But he’ll find it is not gold and will not make him bold and brave. If you feel that you see me, not quite at my virginal best, cross my palm with me, and I’ll willingly show you the rest!—Jewel, You’re a painter. You’re a baker. You like to sleep with the windows open. You never take sugar in your tea. And you always double-knot your shoelaces. Here’s some advice. Stay alive. Put you somewhere you can’t get hurt. You see, my spirit now. This is a new thought. I’m not sure exactly what it means, but it suggests I’m a fighter. In a sort of brave way. It’s not as if I’m never friendly. Okay, maybe I don’t go around loving everybody I meet, maybe my smiles are hard to come by, but i do care for some people. We fight, we dare, we end our hunger for justice. My mouth has gone dry as sawdust. I desperately find God in the people’s crowd and lock eyes with him. I imagine the words coming from his lips. What’s impressed you most since you arrived here?’ I rack my brain for something that made me happy here. Be honest, I think. Be honest. And there I am, blushing and confused, made beautiful by God’s hands, desirable by mother’s confession, tragic by circumstance, and by all accounts, unforgettable. Sometimes when things are particularly bad, my brain will give me a happy dream. So I learned to hold my tongue and to turn my features into an indifferent mask so that no one could ever read my thoughts. Let them go, I tell myself. Say good-bye and forget them. I do my best, thinking of them one by one, releasing them like birds from the protective cages inside me, locking the doors against their return. I also want to tell him how much I already miss him. But that wouldn’t be fair on my part. Who am I thinking of? I don’t want to cry. Everyone will make note of my tears and I’ll be marked as an easy target. A weakling. I will give no one that satisfaction. I remember everything about you, I mentioned. You’re the one who was paying attention. And now you must have known, I will never give up if you never give in. You know, once I’m on my feet I realize escape in a school to Bouaké might not be so easy. There are much worse games to play, Shakwonda said. My choices but are simple. I can die like a quarry in the woods or I can die here beside mum. I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to stay right here and cause all kinds of trouble, now. I always channel my emotions into my work. That way, I don’t hurt anyone but myself. And then he gives me a smile that just seems so genuinely sweet with just the right touch of shyness that unexpected warmth rushes through me. Already I met in my life such boy like you long ago in my school. And now when he sings, looked to the side, as if he saw it now, even the birds stop to listen. For me alone was Christopher born, and I for him. Being retired, he has much time for books. He studies them from morn till night and often through the night and morn again, and all he reads oppresses him; fills him with indignation at man’s murderous ways toward man. He ponders the problem of how to make better a world where evil brings profit and virtue none at all; where fraud and deceit are mingled with truth and sincerity. He broods and broods and broods and broods and finally his brains dry up. He lays down the melancholy burden of sanity and conceives the strangest project ever imagined – -to become a knight-errant, and sally forth into the world in search of adventures; to mount a crusade; to raise up the weak and those in need. To whom would he dedicate his conquests? What visions sustain him when he sallies forth to do battle with evil and with giants? Then his problems and he himself always standing before me. Now I give him to you. Soft and fair, my friend; in last year’s nests there are no birds this year. Today it is said: Not with whom you are born, but with whom you are bred. A man prepared has half fought the battle. Cease the knocking at thy craven knees and prepare to do battle. If you need anything, just shout… If you’re able. I had a teacher there. They’re already taking my future! They can’t have the things that mattered to me in the past! Folly is want to have more followers and comrades than discretion. Finally I would do what I pleased, and doing what I pleased, I should have my will, and having my will, I should be contented; and when one is contented, there is no more to be desired; and when there is no more to be desired, there is an end of it. For the army is a school in which the miser becomes generous, and the generous prodigal. The rather since every man is the son of his own works. But in a school they can expect nothing but their labor for their pains. You have a… remarkable memory, I interrupted him in mid-sentence. but he continued as if nothing had happened, to this day, I can never shake the connection between this boy, Jewel, and the bread that gave me hope, and the dandelion that reminded me that I was not doomed. And more than once, I have turned in the school hallway and caught his eyes trained on me, only to quickly flit away. I feel like I owe him something, and I hate owing people. Maybe if I had thanked him at some point, I’d be feeling less conflicted now. I thought about it a couple of times, but the opportunity never seemed to present itself. Perhaps in this way my mother’s voice comes back to me. I will never forget the face of mum who was my last hope. I realize only one person would be damaged beyond repair if mum dies. Me. Mum says the words slowly, tasting it. Friend. Lover. Victory. Enemy. Fiancée. Target. Mutt. Neighbor. Hunter. Tribute. Ally. I’ll add it to the list of words I use to try to figure you out. The problem is, I can’t tell what’s real anymore, and what’s made up. One time, my mother told me that I always eat like I’ll never see food again. And I said, I won’t unless I bring it home. That shut her up. And now I am not pretty. I am not beautiful. I am as radiant as the sun. You’ve got about as much charm as a dead slug,  I said boldly. Many a man has gone to bed feeling well, only to wake up the next morning and find himself dead, Shakwonda said. .Dying is such a waste of good health, I noticed. . Being retired, he has much time for books. He studies them from morn till night and often through the night and morn again, and all he reads oppresses him; fills him with indignation at man’s murderous ways toward man. He ponders the problem of how to make better a world where evil brings profit and virtue none at all; where fraud and deceit are mingled with truth and sincerity. He broods and broods and broods and broods and finally his brains dry up. He lays down the melancholy burden of sanity and conceives the strangest project ever imagined – -to become a knight-errant, and sally forth into the world in search of adventures; to mount a crusade; to raise up the weak and those in need. Suddenly showed around us the village dogs. Master! Master! Speed up. ‘These dogs might bite us, be quiet, when the dogs bark it is because we are working, Shakwonda said. We have no choice and realize too late the practice of life. Do everything that you was a man that you require from yourself and others. When the severity of the law is to be softened, let pity, not bribes, be the motive, he added, had a face like a blessing. Thanks, I’ll keep it in mind. I clench his hands to the point of pain. I only  hesitate, then gives an unconvincing shake of his head. While then he as if to say, Stay with me. Staying with you, I said, forever. (to be continued)

Stanisław Barszczak—Musimy wybrać siebie— Chcę być zawsze z wami i nigdzie więcej, chcę zdrowia psychicznego dla nas i naszych wnucząt. Stąd poruszę tutaj pewien interesujący mnie problem. Kwestie ontologiczne od początku nie wydają się rozwiązywalne. Spójrzmy na problem wolności. Wszyscy z wyjątkiem bytu absolutnego-Boga jesteśmy powiązani z innymi ludźmi przez związki przyczynowo-skutkowe. Jeśli coś podlega związkowi przyczynowemu nie może być wolne. Aby być wolnym znaczy znaleźć się poza przemocą, być samowystarczalny. Człowiek jako istota żyjąca nie może być wolny. Potwierdza to codzienne zapotrzebowanie na sen, jedzenie, odpoczynek, itp. Aby ocalić wolność na poziomie ludzkiej egzystencji, J.-P. Sartre sięga po pojęcie nicości. Za nim nawiążę najpierw do określenia Hegla, że wolność jest „negatywnością i jako taka musi przed nami wystąpić”. Być wolnym, znaczy: móc mówić „nie”. Jakaś „nicość” przenika człowieka, który jako „byt-dla-siebie” jest „samo-świadomością”. Nicość jest tym, dzięki czemu jest możliwa samo-świadomość. Jak pisał ks. J. Tischner właśnie ta nicość jest jakby „szczeliną”, która przenika samo-świadomość i czyni ją przedrefleksyjną obecnością dla samej siebie. Ona sprawia, że możliwa jest negacja i że wolność może mówić „nie”. Ale takie ontologizowanie wolności poprzez pojęcie nicości wydaje się jej pewnym okrojeniem. Otóż do istoty wolności należy mówienie „tak”. Czy negacja zawarta w wolności nie jest odwrotną stroną obecnego w niej „tak”? Ontologiczne ujęcie wolności prowadzi albo do zaprzeczenia wolności (determinizmu), albo do pomylenia wolności z siłą. Wedle determinizmu prawa rządzące zachowaniami człowieka są zasadniczo tej samej natury, co prawa rządzące zachowaniami rzeczy. Człowiek ma jednak ograniczoną świadomość i nie wie, jakie siły nim rządzą. Z tej niewiedzy bierze się złudzenie wolności. Przywołajmy tutaj wolność rozumianą jako ludzkie działanie skuteczne- „wolność jest rozumieniem konieczności” (materializm historyczny). Ale także wolność w wydaniu zdesperowanego Leoncia, który tracąc Izaurę, popełnia samobójstwo. Uczucie wolności rządzi nad tyranią miłości. Dzisiaj nad wolność przedkłada się jednak coś więcej- odpowiedzialność. Przytaczana ontologia w jednym ma rację: doświadczeniem człowieka w sferze wolności jest doświadczenie zniewolenia. Człowiek odnajduje swą wolność jako wolność zniewoloną. Jego życie upływa jako walka o wolność. Walka ta nie oznacza jednak przyswojenia sobie wartości zewnętrznej, lecz „stawanie się” tym, czym człowiek „naprawdę jest”. Osiąganie wolności jest powrotem człowieka do samego siebie. Wskazuje na to formuła Hegla: wolność polega na tym, by być „sobą u siebie”. Aby odpowiedzieć na pytanie co znaczy „być-u-siebie”, trzeba zapytać: co znaczy „nie być u siebie”? Idźmy za św. Pawłem: dobra, którego chcę nie czynię, a czynię zło, którego nie chcę”. Nie jestem „u siebie”, gdy natrafiam na „obce prawo”. Źródło tego prawa jest poza mną- w jakiejś „obcości”. Niemniej obcość ta ma we mnie jakieś odbicie. Szczególnie ciało jest na nią podatne. Obcość zewnętrzna splata się z wewnętrzną. Aby „być sobą u siebie”, muszę „przezwyciężyć siebie” i jednocześnie stawić czoło komuś „zewnętrznemu”. Komu? Jakiejś zasadzie zła. Istotnym ograniczeniem wolności jest więc zło. Człowiek nie toczy walki z prawami przyrody, lecz ze złem, które w sposób istotny ogranicza jego wolność. Złem nie jest to, jak pisał ks. Tischner, że człowiek nie może prześcignąć konia, ale to, że czasem „musi” skłamać i to też jest ograniczeniem jego wolności. Na klasyczny opis zniewolenia natrafiamy u Hegla w słynnym rozdziale „Genomenologii ducha” o panu i niewolniku. Zniewolenie ma wedle Hegla charakter logiczny: jest elementem racjonalnego systemu. Stąd jest tak trudne do przezwyciężenia. Aby wyjść ze zniewolenia, trzeba jakby dokonać destrukcji całego systemu. Hegel uważa-jak wiemy- że stosunek człowieka do człowieka jest pierwotnie stosunkiem walki. „Człowiek człowiekowi wilkiem”. Jest w tym coś prawdy: gdyby było inaczej, to nie trzeba by przykazań- nie trzeba by tego, żeby dopiero niebo skłaniało ludzi do miłości. Walka jest walką na śmierć i życie, choć jej istotnym celem nie jest zabicie przeciwnika, lecz zmuszenie go do uznania. Przegrywa ten, kto pierwszy przerazi się śmierci. Kto się nie przerazi, kto zaryzykuje śmierć, ten osiągnie wolność. Przerażeni śmiercią idą w niewolę, ryzykujący życie stają się panami. Zadaniem niewolnika jest praca dla pana, zadaniem pana- władanie. Mamy dwie złączone ze sobą wolności: samodzielna wolność pana i będąca w cieniu tamtej wolności „wolność” niewolnika. Wolność niewolnika jest otoczona zakazami. To nie przyroda zrodziła te zakazy, lecz wola pana. Wola zniewala wolę, wolność jednego ogranicza wolność drugiego. Utrata wolności nie dokonuje się bez zysków. Niewolnik w zamian za uznanie ocalił życie. Może niewinności; może a nawet powinien „nie chcieć mieć sumienia”. Z drugiej jednak strony niewolnik jest ofiarą złudzenia. Wydaje mu się, że to pan pozbawił go wolności, że pan jest „wszystkiemu winien”. Naprawdę jednak to sam niewolnik jest twórcą pana i swego zniewolenia. Gdyby nie „uznał” cudzego panowania, nie stałby się niewolnikiem. Niewolnik ma jeden „grzech”, i to podstawowy: wyrzeczenie się wolności. Nie będąc w pełni sobą, nie jest też u siebie. Inny obraz zniewolenia wyłania się z analiz psychologicznych, jakie pozostawił nam prof. A. Kępiński, który pisał o „psychopatach”- o ludziach, którzy stali się niewolnikami rozmaitych, mniej lub bardziej irracjonalnych lęków. Lęki te podcięły w nich nadzieję. Lękając się ludzi i świata, ludzie ci schronili się w „kryjówki”. Można ich nazwać „ludźmi z kryjówek”. Ks. Tischner pisał: „Człowiek w kryjówce wierzy, że nosi w sobie jakiś skarb. Skarb ten stara się schować głęboko. Sam staje przy schowku i waruje. Miejsce, na którym stoi, otacza ścianą lęku. Ku wszystkim ludziom zbliżającym się do kryjówki kieruje podejrzenie, że zbliżają się po to, by go okraść I zniszczyć.” Przejście z przestrzeni nadziei w przestrzeń kryjówki jest upadkiem człowieka, podobnie jak upadek w grzech, w świadomą i dobrowolną winę. Człowiek żyje na poziomie nijakości, poza dobrem i złem, jest ani winny, ani niewinny, jego odpowiedzialność znalazła się w stanie uwiądu. I teraz cała godność człowieka sprowadza się do wartości cierpień, którym podlega. Znamiennym rysem ludzi z kryjówek jest to, że sami cierpią i innym przysparzają(dodają) cierpień. I, co najgorsze, ich cierpienia są równie wielkie, jak niepotrzebne” (J. Tischner, Myślenie według wartości, s.415-416) „Ludzie z kryjówek” nie są sobą u siebie. Wysunąłbym tutaj tezę, że nasi politycy, których życie przerwała katastrofa pod Smoleńskiem padli ofiarą również „ludzi z kryjówek”. Ci ludzie są zniewoleni. Gdzie jest ich „pan”? Paradoks polega na tym, że “pana” naprawdę nie ma, że tylko jego nieokreślone wyobrażenie wypełnia ich wyobraźnię. „Panem” jest „ktoś”, kto w każdej chwili może przyjść i zrobić „coś”. I tego się boją. Podsumujmy krótko to, co powiedzieliśmy: zniewolenie pojawia się: na poziomie dialogicznym jako ograniczenie lub pozbawienie wolności jednego przez drugiego; jako zniewolenie z racji na uznawane zło; wiąże się z pojawieniem się strachu. Kościół Katolicki ukazuje świat jako dar miłującego Stwórcy. Ponieważ Bóg jest dla człowieka, to na nim spoczywa wolność człowieka na świecie. Upadek pierwszych ludzi wnosi pęknięcie w świat. Człowiek nie ma już bezpośredniego widzenia daru. Staje przeciwko Bogu, światu i sobie. Stąd bierze się jego niewola. Tylko wiara przywraca widzenie pierworodnego początku. Odbudowa wolności na świecie może się dokonać jedynie poprzez odnowę stosunku do Boga. To dlatego mówił Hegel: „Bóg jest Bogiem ludzi wolnych”. Człowiek może „tworzyć siebie” jako dzieło sztuki, wydobywając z siebie „moce życia” może pokonać swą słabość, może „brać w posiadanie siebie”, może „chcieć chcenia”, tak rodzić siebie. I teraz wolności brakuje jednego: wskazówki na dobro. Wolność jest sposobem istnienia dobra. To ostatnie wykracza poza struktury bytu. Przebudzenie na dobro i naszą łaskawość realizuje w nas „dobra wola”, która jest w człowieku subiektywnym wyrazem wolności. O tyle, o ile towarzyszy ona człowiekowi w jego sposobie bycia, człowiek jako człowiek staje się wyrazem wolności. I właśnie tekst, który przygotowałem dla mojego Czytelnika ma na względzie wszystko to, co już tutaj powiedziałem. Osobiście pragnę włączyć się do współczesnej dyskusji na temat miłości, pamięci, tożsamości, wolności i ludzkiej odpowiedzialności.

Stanislaw Barszczak—You have to choose yourself—

Ontological issues from the beginning do not seem to solve. Let’s look at the problem of freedom. Everyone- except absolute being-God  -is linked to other beings by ties of cause and effect-if it falls into the causal relationship cannot be free. To be free means to be beyond the violence, be sufficient itself. A man as a being cannot be free. This confirms the daily need for sleep, food, rest, etc. To preserve the freedom of human existence, J.-P. Sartre presents the concept of nothingness. Behind him first I want to find the determination of Hegel, that freedom is “the negativity, and as such must appear before us.” Be free to say: to be able to say “no.” Some “nothingness” permeates the man who, as “being-for-itself” is “self-consciousness.” Nothingness is the one which makes it possible to self-awareness. In the words of Father J. Tischner this nothingness is like a “gap”, which penetrates self-awareness and makes it earliest reflection’s presence for myself. It makes it possible to negation, and that freedom can say “no.” But such freedom’s being placed through the concept of nothingness, it seems to be its depletion. Well, the essence of freedom should be saying “yes.” Is the denial of freedom contained in the reverse side is not present in the “yes”? Ontological approach of freedom leads to a denial of freedom (determinism), or to confuse liberty with strength. According to the deterministic laws governing the behavior of man are essentially the same nature as the law governing the behavior of things. However, a man has limited an awareness and do not know what forces govern it. With this ignorance comes the illusion of freedom. Cited here understood as the freedom of human action-effect “understanding of freedom is a necessity” (historical materialism). Let’s see also TV freedom of contemporary: a desperate Leoncio, who lost Isaura, commits suicide. The feeling of freedom rules over tyranny. Well. Today, more than liberty shall be put up something more like a responsibility. But we must continually look for new solutions. Cited in one ontology is right: the human experience in the sphere of freedom is the experience of enslavement. A man finds his freedom as freedom for enslaved. His life goes on as the fight for freedom. This battle does not mean, however, learn the external value, but “becoming” what a man “really is.” The achievement of human freedom is back to himself. This is indicated by the formula of Hegel: Freedom is that to be “themselves at home.” To answer the question what it means to “be-in-itself ‘, we need to ask: what does” not be at home “? Let us follow Saint Paul: good I want I do not do, and I do the evil which I would not. ” I’m not “at home” when you come upon “foreign law.” The source of this right is beyond me-in some “foreignness.” However, this strangeness has some echo in me. Body is particularly susceptible to it. Strangeness is intertwined with the outside inside. In order to “be themselves at home”, I have to “overcome myself” and at the same time to confront someone “outside”. Who? Some principle of evil. An important limitation of freedom is so evil. Man is not running battle with the laws of nature, but evil, which significantly limits its freedom. Evil is not, Father J. Tischner wrote, that man cannot outrun a horse, but that sometimes “must” tell a lie and it is also a restriction of his freedom. The classic description of slavery, we find in Hegel’s famous chapter “Phenomenology of the spirit” of the master and slave. Enslavement, according to him has a logical character: it is part of a rational system. Hence, it is so difficult to overcome. To escape from bondage, if you need to make the destruction of the entire system. Hegel believes-as we know-that the relation of man to man is primarily a relationship of struggle. “Man to man a wolf.” There is something of truth: if it were otherwise, you probably do not need to commandments-not that you would have to just heaven impelled people to love. The fight is a fight to the death, although its major purpose is not to kill but to force him to recognize. The player who first terrified of death. Who does not frighten those who will risk death, reaches freedom. Terrified of death go into slavery, informed risk becoming the masters of life. The task is to work for the slave master, task master-possession. We have two intertwined with one another freedom: the freedom of yourself and being in the shadow of that freedom, “freedom” of a slave. The freedom of a slave is surrounded by prohibitions. This is not the nature those prohibitions was born, but the will of master. Will enslaves the will, freedom restricts the freedom of one another. Loss of the freedom may not be made without profit. Slaves in exchange for recognition of saved lives. Maybe innocence, may and indeed should, “do not want to have a conscience.” On the other hand, the slave is the victim of delusion. It seems to him that you are deprived of liberty, that you are “to blame for everything.” Really, though it alone is the creator of a slave master and his enslavement. If it was not “found” someone else’s reign, there would be a slave. A slave has a “sin” and that is basic: the renunciation of freedom. Not being fully themselves, it is not at home. A different picture emerges from the enslavement of psychological analysis, which is due, inter alia, prof. A. Kępiński, who wrote about “psychopaths” – about people who have become slaves to various, more or less irrational fears. These fears undercut them hope. Fearful of people and the world, these people took refuge in the shelter. ” You can call them “people from their hiding places.” Father J. Tischner wrote: “A man in a hideout believed that carries within itself a treasury. Treasury is trying to hide deep. Sam becomes the clipboard we stipulate. Place, on which stands, surrounded by a wall of fear. For all people approaching the hideout he is directing suspicion that they approach to him in order to rob him and destroy. “Passage of the area hope the space is hiding the fall of man, as well as fall into sin, and in an informed and voluntary guilty. A man lives at the level of blandness, beyond good and evil, is neither guilty nor innocent, his responsibility was in a state of senility. And now the whole dignity of man comes to the value of suffering, which it is subject. A striking feature of hiding people is that they suffer and they can bring suffering to others. And, worst of all, their suffering is as great as unnecessary”.(Thinking by value, s.415-416) “People from their hiding places” are not themselves at home. I would put the argument  here that our politicians, whose lives are interrupted by a disaster at Smolensk had fallen victim to the “people from their hiding places.” These people are enslaved. Where is their “lord”? The paradox is that the “master” is not really that only the vague idea fills their imagination. “Lord” is “someone” who can always come and do “something.” And they fear that. A quick summary of what we said here: slavery appears: at dialogical level as limiting or imprisonment of one by another, as slavery because of the recognized evils, is associated with the emergence of fear. The Catholic Church see the world as a gift of a loving Creator. Because God is for man, it is for human is a freedom in the world. The fall of the first people brings a burst into the world. Man no longer has a direct view of the gift. Takes against God, the world and ourselves. Hence his captivity was. Only faith restores the original vision of the blessed beginning. Reconstruction of freedom in the world can only be achieved by restoring relationship with God. That is why Hegel said: “God is the God of free people”. A man can “create itself” as a work of art, drawing with their “power of life”, he can overcome its weakness, can “take possession of himself,” and may “want of willing,” so he can bear itself. Now, freedom is missing one else: a guide to the good. Freedom is a way of being good. The latter is outside the structures of being. Awakening to good and our faithfulness to implement in us “a good will”, which is a subjective expression of human freedom. In so far as a good will is accompanied to a man in his way of being, man as a man becomes an expression of freedom. And here there is the text that I prepared for my reader. Sorry, yet not well. But at a time personally, I would like to join to the contemporary discussion about love, memory, identity, freedom and human responsibility.(introduction to new a story, to be continued)

Stanislaw Barszczak, Poland—An interview—

Some bio-data: As for my personal qualifications, I am a magister of theology (1986) and a licentiate from the philosophy (1991). I’ve been studying contemporary philosophy. I earned the degree of Bachelor of Arts in philosophy. In the year 2006 as a graduate student I went to the University of Silesia in Katowice, Faculty of Social Sciences, (street Bankowa 12, Katowice 40-007), and I was accepted as a doctoral student. I’m going to do my PhD in philosophy in the future. Dissertation supervisor is Mr. Prof. Doctor Piotr Skudrzyk.  I am fluent in different languages also: English, French, Russian, Italian, German and Latin. I prefer to work, I am willingness to travel on whole world. I am a 50 year old. I am currently doing a priest on an Archdiocese House “Święta Puszcza” in Olsztyn near Częstochowa. I’m not afraid of challenges  of modernity and a meeting with the interesting people.  I would ask you to help distribute my books in the entire world. For a moment I wish all of my rejection/frustration writing stories had such a happy ending! Though I run missions by Web mail for aspiring writers. I would like to see you as soon as possible. Let us be of good cheer. I wish you good health and dreams come true. However, we are returning to an interview now. 8. Who would you say has influenced you most? Most has been influence in a negative direction, from human to gossip, the bad experiences of my life and so on.  But much I owe to Thomas Mann, Guy de Maupassant, Witold Gombrowicz, Joseph Conrad, who influenced me the most, in order my courage to write, and in the fact that I dared to write on my own. Then I’d rather fill my writing with people like ourselves. 9. How have your personal experiences influenced your writing? I like to think that my own experience shapes the stories more and more I tell without having myself intruding into them. Throughout my life I have never fitted easily into the societies and positions I found myself in, and rather than change to conform, I have looked with outsider’s eyes to see the cracks in the edifices. I like to think my texts take place within some of those cracks, and show readers something they might never have noticed. 10. When did you start writing? With all the better paying, less competitive professions in the world, why write? You could have started with an easier question. I ask myself this one often at the nadir of the night, usually when I hear of another publishing merger or I get a rejection for a book I thought was a real winner! Why write when everyone in publishing – the publisher, the editor, the printer and even the cleaner gets paid before you and better than you?  I’ve always written.  I wrote my first sickly sweet poem when I was about 13 and I just kept on going (and luckily improving) from there.  The more you write the more you want to write.  It’s an addiction really.  At a time I have watched more than 10 hours television a day for nearly a decade in a mother’s house. Though I’d rather write.  While my mum curls up by the fire to tell something a new, I’m pounding away at the computer keys, writing one.  Other men play tennis, do lunch, and actually have time to get on top of the housework.  I drop the friends off at chapel and have the computer turned on, even before the front door is properly closed. As I mentioned I started the next text in the late 70s and took the first draft to my Professor, then writer-in-residence at Częstochowa. I found out that I needed to learn better control of my imagination and prose when he laughed through all the dramatic bits. I completed my first tale around 1979, a huge historical scene about the arrival of a pope John-Paul II in his country. It only was published in English titled “The long-awaited day”. 11. How did you make the transition from wanting to write to becoming a published writer? After finding out I could plug away through several hundred thousand words and keep my spirits up to complete the tales, I decided to learn more of the craft with short stories and eventually produce a publishable book. I soon came to share the short stories I worked on. At the time I have attended other writing functions, the last with Orhan Pamuk. He taught me the importance of every detail, such as what would or would not be in the character’s sight in every scene of text. After that I joined the best of the writing groups, and have had every novel thoroughly critiqued until they were worthy of showing to the world. I’ve tried to give up.  Really I have.  Lots times in the last decade I’ve looked at the struggling publishing industry and my struggling bank account, and I’ve made a rational, solemn promise to stop writing and get a real job that pays properly and regularly.  And then, an idea comes and I quickly scribble it down just in case, the next day I take it out and just play with it a bit, flesh it out, create a little quirk in that character, tighten up the weak bit of the plot. Suddenly the first draft is all there in your head and it would be a shame not to write it down, then the second draft is really not that much more work and it’s nearly finished, just a bit more polishing.  12. How many books have you written so far? The twelve books published or contracted are “The scarred wound”(February 2004; “The fencer of God”(Mars 2004); “The corn-flowers of the freedom”(May 2005); “The Friend loves always”(January 2006); “The cross and its way”(September 2006); “The Wonderful Month of May”(October 2008); “Another and he. The philosophy of Paul Ricoeur and Emmanuel Levinas”(November 2008); “Petra and the Holy Land”(December 2008); “The view from my window”(May 2009); “Receipts for prosperity and hope”(Mars 2011); “Mission man”(in English, May 2010). They are all published by Regional Teacher Training Centre “WOM” in Czestochowa (www.womczest.edu.pl); Publishing House “Garmond” in Czestochowa (biuro@garmondgroup.com); Prograf Digital Printing Group Sp. Ltd.. (www.prograf-neovision.com.pl). They all feature my courageous and clever male Editor Mr Thomas Ginal , who works to protect the interests of a group of modern people.

Stanislaw Barszczak— I became a catchy writer—

1.How and when did you get started as a writer? Growing up I hated doing nothing. I did all I could to avoid obligations. Once I became the owner of the property and lived in a “house mother”, I found the book in the attic of a large two-door cabinet sandstones. Turns out later I learned I was suffering from a reading comprehension disability. It wasn’t until 7th grade that things changed. I was lucky in my life, I met three Polish language teachers: Mrs. Kawalec, Mrs. Grzegorczyk and Mr. prof. Mikołajtis. The latter gave us a lot of texts for reading. And when we wrote essays, he insisted that they had been titled: ‘Polish job, school’. I loved Kochanowski, Kraszewski, Sienkiewicz, Mickiewicz, Slovacki, Krasinski, Wyspianski, Hugo, Conrad. And I knew, at age 15, that I wanted to be a writer. When I was a freshman in high school, I wrote a short story titled ‘My thoughts after the meeting with prof. Hashimoto of Japan’. It was published in the school’s annual magazine. My career, you might say, had begun. Today it seems to me that I was already very advanced in understanding the writer’s creative intentions. Even I’m starting to write often, but I regret to say here that there are texts no written with a pen, but chosen some thoughts stored in synthesized memory of computer. But constantly looking for ways to maximize my clerical potential watching cultural programs on television. My teacher TV announced that we’d be reading 4 books that week, also one by S. Rushdi. So, it was a “literary Quartett” in the German TV show with the participation of Mr. Marcel Reich-Ranicki, Hellmuth Karasek und Sigrid Löffler. I read then summary of The Moor’s Last Sigh by Salman Rushdie, from page one until the end of the book, I was catapulted into another world. The book amazed me. I thought about it for days after reading it. I could not wait to read another book. And it was like that for all of S. Rushdi’s books. Before I knew what was happening to me, I was buying books like that in stores and reading at least a book a month. 2. How do you usually find your ideas?  It’s a great question. One I can’t answer in black and white. Sometimes I get a character in mind; sometimes a plot, or a twist ending. Lots of times I just start writing and see where it leads me. Occasionally I get inspired with something that has a beginning, middle and end. Recently, I talked about my desires of writing my friends. A priest that writes books. We laughed, and realized, despite what we want me to do. And for example, while I also write Fiction adventure series about the people of the stranded starship on a 17th century alternate world. It combines sociology (the science) with some anachronistic additions to sword and gunpowder swashbuckling. 3. Did you ever get any rejections? Did I ever get any rejections? Hmmm. Maybe only enough to wallpaper my entire flat, monthly. (I still get rejections). Part of being a writer is having a thick skin. Finding and interested editor, I believe, has to do a lot with luck and timing. 4. If yes, how did you react to them? “There are two types of rejections. Form Letter and what I call Positive Rejection. You wonder if they didn’t just open your submission, attach a Form Letter, and return it to you without so much as reading a word. A little depressing at times. But what can you do? The Positive Rejection is when an editor or someone like that, a similar authority, in the same industry, actually takes the time to personalize the rejection letter in some way. “Close, try us with your next story idea.” Something like that. Anything that makes it more than a just a Form Letter Rejection, I suppose. Those I consider inspiring. I have such a letter is not so much negative, but a courtesy one of Mr J. Poniewierski of February 1997, see my articles have been favorably accepted in the publication, although they were not then published. For me it was a crucial letter for my literary career. Earlier I was by no means in touch with Mr. prof. P. Ricoeur. I wanted to write more scholarly texts. I got an interesting responses to those letters of his secretaries. 4. What are the major challenges that you have faced in your career? There are many major challenges I think most writers face. For me, frustration is one of them. Always wondering if my story is good enough, if my writing is good enough. Then once I sell a work and it is published. But I worry that no one is going to buy the books, read them, like them. I worry about marketing and sales figures and getting out and promoting. Although not undo Exhibitions Publishing Catholic, such as a few days ago in Warsaw. Then there is finding enough time in a day to do all that needs to be done. I work full time, I freelance part-time for a community newspaper, write book reviews for a web site. 5. Who is your target audience? I think I write primarily for priests of active imagination. Since older men and women buy most of the fiction published today, I’m glad that my fascination with the daring and clever writers and artists, ties in with their reading habits. I am always torn between writing stories that appeal on a pleasure level and ones that point up the illusions of life. I prefer to write the kinds of stories that I enjoy, but on the other hand, I would hope to have some aspects buried in the writing that would one day be considered a contribution to literature. I work on varied projects with the aim that every area of the craft I learn will add something to the next project I venture. 6. What are your main concerns as a writer? I think a writer’s greatest concern is securing a place in the church. Today, the writing isn’t enough. While we may have sweated blood over our portrayals of our fictional realities, no one will see them unless the finished novel reaches the attention of potential readers. I’m disappointed that the big corporate publishers are widely accepted to be the arbiters of quality’s writing. I mourn for a better world where books were published because someone believed in their message or content. 7. Do you write everyday? Before I became embroiled in weeks of promotion, I used to write most days. When revising chapter, I may write a paragraph or a couple of pages; when writing a first draft I might get 3,000 words down once I know where the scenes are going. I generally start with some housekeeping, saving completed work to a storage site or into a thumb drive, making new notes in my scenario or plot files. Usually I write in complete scenes and end when I reach the final actions. These may also require revising in order to keep up the pace and tension before I write on into the next scene.(to be continued)

stanislaw barszczak—A soul of the artist—

A writing begins long before the curtain reading goes up and ends long after it has come down. It starts in my imagination, it becomes my life, and it stays part of my life long after I’ve left the office computer. First I lost my voice, then I lost my fate and then I lost my figure, but I still have never lost mum. I am not an angel and do not pretend to be. That is not one of my roles. But I am not the devil either. I am a priest and a serious artist, and I would like so to be judged. I long couldn’t switch my voice. My voice is not like an elevator going up and down. I don’t know what happens to me close to altar. Something else seems to take over. I don’t need the money, dear. I work for art. I prepare myself for pastoral rehearsals like I would for the only love of my life. I was always too mature for my age – and not very happy. I had only some young friends. I wish I could go back to those days. If I could only live it all again, how I would play and enjoy other friends. What a fool I was. I would like to be Stanislaw, but there is Barszczak who demands that I carry myself with his dignity. I would not kill my enemies, but I will make them get down on their knees. I will, I can, I must.  It’s a terrible thing to go through life thinking that you have a rock on your side when you haven’t. “When my enemies stop hissing, I shall know I’m slipping.” What else do I want to tell you. Love is so much better when you’re not married.  On altar, I am in the dark. That is the difference between good teachers and great teachers: good teachers make the best of a pupil’s means; great teachers foresee a pupil’s ends. I want to be just a good teacher. There must be a law against forcing priest to act as soon as possible. Priests should have a wonderful childhood priest. They should not be given too much responsibility. Through made the priesthood (25 years) I go with my Rev. Archbishop. So, such childhood priest he opened me and for this I am him eternally grateful. We are not pals enough with Orthodox faithful, so we must make ourselves indispensable. After all, we have the greatest weapon in our hands by just being Christian. We offer each other words of consolation or distraction or encouragement when we see that one or the other of us is in need of such words. We also miss each other (vaguely) when we’re not together. “What happened between us both happened and didn’t happen, it’s the same with everything, why do or not do something, why say “yes” or “no,” why worry yourself with a “perhaps” or a “maybe,” why speak, why remain silent, why refuse, why know anything if nothing of what happens happens, because nothing happens without interruption, nothing lasts or endures or is ceaselessly remembered, what takes place is identical to what doesn’t take place, what we dismiss or allow to slip by us is identical to what we accept and seize, what we experience identical to what we never try; we pour all our intelligence and out feelings and our enthusiasm into the task of discriminating between things that will all be made equal, if they haven’t already been, and that’s why we’re so full of regrets and lost opportunities, of confirmations and reaffirmations and opportunities grasped, when the truth is that nothing is affirmed and everything is constantly in the process of being lost. Or perhaps there never was anything.” “The truth never shines forth, as the saying goes, because the only truth is that which is known to no one and which remains untransmitted, that which is not translated into words or images, that which remains concealed and unverified, which is perhaps why we do recount so much or even everything, to make sure that nothing has ever really happened, not once it’s been told.” So, you are born an artist or you are not. And you stay an artist, dear, even if your voice is less of a fireworks. The artist is always there.

Stanislaw Barszczak — All sorts of people (the April retreat in Moscow) —

We want to open up our mysterious selves. We look forward to and we hope that the stars look down, we pray that we can add something to emulate their success, the stars moving across the sky and leading us to our fate, but it is only our vanity. We look at the galaxies and the decline of love, but the universe cares less about us than we do about it, we believe the stars move along their tracks, but we want to rotate differently. And it’s true that if you watch the sky turn of the wheel for a while, you’ll see the meteorite, its flame, like flies, and finally extinguished. Thus, the stars are not worthy of emulation. It just unlucky rock. Our lives are here on earth, there are no guidelines for the stars … Moscow saw many and many survived. It says of it even its ” mosaic” metro. During the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries many times uprising broke out big urban poor, “Bunt Copper”, ”Salt rebellion.” To fight for justice went popular Ivan Bołotnikowa’s troops, Stepan Razin, Pugachev Jemieljan, leaders of the great peasant uprisings against boyars and landowners, the uprisings that shook the foundations of tsarist autocracy. In over 800-year history, Moscow has repeatedly changed its face. But the most striking changes occurred in the city after the victory of Great October Socialist Revolution. Limits Moscow continues to expand (as compared with the year 1917 its territory has increased five times), the city climbing to the top is more beautiful, brighter. Once Moscow’s often called the “big village” because it has a lot of one-storey and modest one-story wooden houses. But look at Moscow after 1970! Straight, wide avenues, large squares, stunning parks and shady gardens, comfortable modern houses and the architecturally interesting office buildings and administrative buildings. Moscow today is also a wide bridges and granite quay Moskva River, the main car, tunnels, overpasses, Palaces of Culture and the school. You probably know who is coming to Moscow for the first time, a meeting with the city starts from Red Square. It is quite natural, because that is the heart of Red Square, Moscow, moreover, the heart of the country. So let’s stop here a moment. Around the square are located the most significant monuments of the Russian capital. And moving away from the square radiating multi-million major thoroughfares of the city. The central place in Red Square Lenin Mausoleum is built of red marble and black Labrador. Red Square (Russian: Красная площадь) why such a name? Few people realize where it comes from the name of Red Square. It turns out that the combination of red color from the communist times is wrong. In addition, Red Square is not called so from the beginning of its existence. At the end of the fourteenth century was called “Fire” or “Burnt”. However, the term is derived from Old Slavonic word “красьнъ” (beautiful). However, Red Russian is “красный.” This similarity made the square is now called the “Red”, although the name “Beautiful” is also clearly on the spot. Officially, it is considered that the name of Red Square in operation since the seventeenth century. Appreciated the beauty of the square in the world. In 1991, the first facility in Russia, Red Square has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site. But the recent history of the square, which for over five centuries, has witnessed many events. In the first half of the twentieth century, and later in Soviet times was the site of military parades, in which Russia and later the Soviet Union demonstrated the world his power. Setting many great historical buildings makes the Red Square in Moscow is a must for each trip. Live is the historical center of Moscow presents a great job. Although the square itself is no longer as impressive, when it comes to size. Is no 330 m long and 70 m wide. Red Square, Lenin spoke often. Hence, on a sunny day May 1, 1919, during the Christmas parade sounded important words of VI Lenin: “Previously, about what our children see, it was said as a fairy tale, but now, comrades, you can see clearly that the construction of a socialist society, under which we started the foundation is not a utopia. With even greater zeal to build this construction will be our children.” In the Kremlin “Lenin knows every stone … his voice still hear each tower … “. The Red Square Russian people worship their heroes. Here were thrown the words of Yuri Gagarin: ” I circled Earth in a spaceship, I realized how beautiful our planet. People! Beware and multiplying this beauty, not perish him!” When walking in the contemporary Moscow and now even though I only heard the words of Michael Kutuzov like a melody flowing through the history of 1812:” The courageous and invincible soldiers! … Each of you is savior of the Fatherland! Russia welcomes you … do not pass, and not forgotten loud deeds and your heroism! … Descendants retain them in memory. Blood have saved his homeland. ” Also, his words from September 1, 1812 years when he took the bold and wise decision: to leave Moscow, but save the army … Because it made my desire to visit the museum-panorama “Borodino battle”, a work of the painter Franz Roubaud. Image is 115 m long. I walked the entire Kutuzov Prospectus, to finally see the panorama from a special observation platform at a height of 6 meters between her and the image of an open-air plan created a width of 12 m. In this way, as if we are in the middle of the action battle of Borodino (7 September 1812 year). You can see beautifully soldiers of the Polish troops Poniatowski banners on horseback attacking the enemy redoubt, and the German army in front of Kutuzov one’s. So, the Russian prisoner, who is gone too far and was surrounded by Würtembergers of a great army; Napoleon at some distance on horseback, sitting among the generals Kutuzov’s Great Redoubts. In the trenches of the fight for Bagration suffered a mortal wound, and therefore gen. Bagration wounded exported from the battlefield. Recall that for a decisive battle took place only in September, after assuming command of the tsar’s army chief Gen. Mikhail Kutuzov by which it replaces in this position, General Mikhail Barclay de Tolly, widely accused (albeit wrongly), for treason and decided to face the French on outskirts of Moscow. The Russians did not want the French to the former capital without a fight. Kutuzov chose very carefully the battle area, with the convenient nature of the defense, allowing only a frontal attack, supported by additional fortifications numerous fields. His words could be another expression of the heroic defenders of Moscow: “United Russia is a retreat-no place for us Moscow.” First Grand Army of Napoleon won Szewardino redoubt. On the morning of Sept. 7 were heard in the fanfare of the Grand Army regiments, and after a read command the imperial army: “Soldiers! Before you battle, which was so much wished for. Victory depends on you, which we so desperately needed, will give us plenty of everything, and good winter quarters, and then the swift return to his homeland. You behavior out as at Austerlitz, Friedland and Vitebsk. Let you’re the most late descendants recall with pride: they were in the great battle under the walls of Moscow! “The battle lasted all day. Napoleon did not allow Ney to quit fighting the Imperial Guard, which is at a critical moment of the battle could lead to the destruction of the Russian army: I will not allow the destruction of my Guard. Being 800 miles from France, did not venture to the loss reserve my best! “In the evening, the fight ended. Napoleon Bonaparte did not use the initiative and gave Kutuzov possibility of retreat. Losses on both sides were extremely high. The Russians lost 45 to 50,000 killed and wounded, the French about 35,000. Severe loss of French cavalry and refusal to quit the battle of the Guard to take on the impossible taking chasing the retreating Russian army toward Kaluga. Napoleon took Moscow, 14 September 1812 year, but the principal aim of the campaign, which was to defeat the Russian army in a general battle, has not been achieved, which soon led to the defeat of Napoleon in Russia. In later years, Napoleon wrote that out of 50 battles, which led, in the battle near Moscow, his army “showed great courage, and enjoyed the least success.”

Stanisław Barszczak—Rozmaici ludzie (kwietniowe rekolekcje w Moskwie)— Pragniemy zgody, by otworzyć się na nasze tajemnicze “ja “. Cieszymy się i mamy nadzieję, że gwiazdy spoglądają w dół, modlimy się, żebyśmy mogli coś dodać w celu ich naśladowania, gwiazd poruszających się po niebie i prowadzących nas do naszego losu, ale to tylko nasza próżności. Przyglądamy się galaktykom i spadkowi miłości, ale wszechświat mniej dba o nas, niż my o tym sądzimy, a gwiazdy poruszają się po ich torach, choć my chcemy, żeby obracały się inaczej. I to prawda, że jeśli oglądać niebo z przełomu koła na chwilę, to ujrzymy upadek meteorytu, jego płomień, jak leci i w końcu gaśnie. Zatem gwiazdy nie są godne naśladowania. To po prostu pechowa skała. Nasze losy są tu na ziemi, nie ma żadnych wytycznych gwiazd …Moskwa wiele widziała i wiele przeżyła. Mówi o tym choćby jej „mozajkowe” metro. Na przestrzeni XVI, XVII i XVIII wieku wiele razy wybuchały duże powstania biedoty miejskiej, „Bunt Miedziany”, „Bunt Solny”. Do walki o sprawiedliwość stawały ludowe oddziały zbrojne Iwana Bołotnikowa, Stiepana Razina, Jemieljana Pugaczowa, przywódców wielkich powstań chłopskich przeciwko bojarom i właścicielom ziemskim, powstań, które wstrząsały podstawami carskiego samowładztwa. W ciągu ponad 800-letniej historii Moskwa niejednokrotnie zmieniła swoje oblicze. Ale najbardziej uderzające zmiany zaszły w mieście po zwycięstwie Wielkiej Socjalistycznej Rewolucji Październikowej. Granice Moskwy wciąż się rozszerzają (w porównaniu z rokiem 1917 jej terytorium zwiększyło się pięciokrotnie), miasto pnie się w górę, jest coraz piękniejsze, jaśniejsze. Kiedyś Moskwę często nazywano „dużą wsią”, ponieważ stało w niej wiele parterowych i jednopiętrowych niepozornych, drewnianych domów. Ale spójrzmy na Moskwę po 1970 roku! Proste, szerokie aleje, rozległe place, wspaniałe parki i cieniste ogrody, nowoczesne wygodne domy mieszkalne i ciekawe pod względem architektonicznym biurowce i budynki administracyjne. Moskwa dnia dzisiejszego to również szerokie mosty i granitowe nadbrzeża rzeki Moskwy, magistralne samochodowe, tunele, estakady, Pałace Kultury i szkoły. Każdy chyba, kto do Moskwy przyjeżdża po raz pierwszy, spotkanie z miastem rozpoczyna od Placu Czerwonego. To zupełnie naturalne, ponieważ właśnie Plac Czerwony jest sercem Moskwy, co więcej, sercem całego kraju. Zatrzymajmy się więc tutaj przez chwilę. Wokół placu zlokalizowane są najznamienitsze zabytki rosyjskiej stolicy. A od placu odchodzą promieniście główne arterie wielomilionowego miasta. Centralne miejsce na Placu Czerwonym zajmuje Mauzoleum W. I. Lenina, zbudowane z czerwonego marmuru i czarnego labradoru. Plac Czerwony (ros. Красная площадь) skąd ta nazwa? Niewiele osób zdaje sobie sprawę, skąd się wzięła nazwa Placu Czerwonego. Okazuje się, że skojarzenie czerwonej barwy z czasami komunistycznymi jest błędne. Poza tym Plac Czerwony nie nazywał się tak od początku swego istnienia. Pod koniec XIV wieku nazywany był „Pożar” lub „Wypalony”. Natomiast określenie pochodzi od starosłowiańskiego słowa „красьнъ (piękny)”. Natomiast czerwony po rosyjsku to „красный”. To podobieństwo sprawiło, że Plac jest nazywany dzisiaj „Czerwonym”, choć nazwa „Piękny” niewątpliwie też jest na miejscu. Oficjalnie uznaje się, że nazwa Plac Czerwony funkcjonuje od XVII wieku. Urodę placu doceniono na świecie. W 1991 roku, jako pierwszy obiekt w Rosji, plac Czerwony został wpisany na listę Światowego Dziedzictwa Kultury UNESCO. Ale to historia najnowsza placu, który przez ponad 5 wieków był świadkiem wielu wydarzeń. W pierwszej połowie XX wieku, a później w czasach sowieckich był miejscem defilad wojskowych, na których Rosja, a później Związek Radziecki, demostrowała światu swoją potegę. Otoczenie wieloma znakomitymi obiektami historycznymi sprawia, że Plac Czerwony w Moskwie to obowiązkowy punkt każdej wycieczki. Na żywo to historyczne centrum Moskwy prezentuje się znakomicie. Choć sam plac już nie jest tak imponujący, jeżeli chodzi o rozmiary. Ma bowiem 330 m długości i 70 m szerokości. Na Placu Czerwonym często przemawiał Lenin. Stąd też w słoneczny dzień 1 Maja 1919 roku podczas świątecznego pochodu zabrzmiały znamienne słowa W. I. Lenina: „Poprzednio o tym, co zobaczą nasze dzieci, mówiono jak o bajce, ale teraz, towarzysze, widzicie jasno, że gmach społeczeństwa socjalistycznego, pod który założyliśmy podwaliny, nie jest utopią. Z jeszcze większym zapałem gmach ten budować będą nasze dzieci.” Na Kremlu „Lenina zna każdy kamień…Głos jego jeszcze każda wieża słyszy…” Na Placu Czerwonym czci naród rosyjski swoich bohaterów. Tu padły słowa Jurija Gagarina: „Okrążywszy Ziemię w statku kosmicznym przekonałem się, jak piękna jest nasza planeta. Ludzie! Strzeżmy i pomnażajmy to piękno, a nie niszczmy go!” Gdy spaceruję po współczesnej Moskwie i teraz jeszcze jakbym słyszał jedyną melodię słów Michała Kutuzowa płynących przez dzieje z roku 1812: „Śmiali i niezwyciężeni żołnierze!…każdy z was jest zbawcą Ojczyzny! Rosja wita Was…Nie przeminą i nie pójdą w zapomnienie głośne czyny i bohaterstwo Wasze!…potomkowie zachowają je w pamięci. Krwią swoją uratowaliście Ojczyznę”. Także jego słowa z 1 września 1812 roku kiedy podjął wówczas śmiałą i mądrą decyzję: opuścić Moskwę, lecz uratować armię… Spełniło się moje pragnienie odwiedzenia muzeum-panoramy „Borodińskiej bitwy”, dzieła malarza Franza Roubauda. Obraz ma 115 m długości. Przeszedłem cały prospekt Kutuzowa, by wreszcie obejrzeć panoramę ze specjalnej platformy obserwacyjnej o wysokości 6 m. Między nią a obrazem utworzono plan plenerowy o szerokości 12 m. W ten sposób znajdujemy się jak gdyby w centrum wydarzeń boju pod Borodino (7 września 1812 roku). Widać pięknie żołnierzy z polskimi sztandarami szarżującymi na koniach z Niemcami naprzeciw armii Kutuzowa; jeńca rosyjskiego, który zagalopował się i został otoczony przez Würtemberczyków; Napoleona w pewnej odległości na koniu; Kutuzowa siedzącego wśród generałów Wielkiej Reduty. W walce na szańcach śmiertelną ranę odniósł Bagration, dlatego rannego Bagrationa wywożą z pola bitwy. Przypomnijmy, że do decydującego starcia doszło dopiero we wrześniu, po objęciu naczelnego dowództwa armii carskiej przez gen. Michaiła Kutuzowa, który zastąpił na tym stanowisku gen. Michaiła Barclaya de Tolly, oskarżanego powszechnie (aczkolwiek niesłusznie) o zdradę i postanowił zmierzyć się z Francuzami na przedpolach Moskwy. Rosjanie nie chcieli dopuścić Francuzów do dawnej stolicy bez walki. Kutuzow bardzo starannie wybrał rejon bitwy, z natury dogodny do obrony, dopuszczający jedynie atak frontalny, wzmocniony dodatkowymi licznymi fortyfikacjami polowymi. Jego słowami mogłyby być słowa innego bohaterskiego obrońcy Moskwy: „Wielka jest Rosja, a cofać się nie ma dokąd- za nami Moskwa”. Najpierw Wielka Armia Napoleona zdobyła redutę Szewardino. Rankiem 7 września odezwały się w pułkach Wielkiej Armii fanfary, a po chwili odczytano wojsku rozkaz cesarski:”Żołnierze! Przed wami bitwa, której tak bardzo pragnęliście. Od was zależy zwycięstwo, które jest nam tak bardzo potrzebne; da nam pod dostatkiem wszystkiego i dobre leże zimowe, a potem prędki powrót do ojczyzny. Sprawcie się tak jak pod Austerlitz, Frydlandem i Witebskiem. Niech wasi najpóźniejsi potomkowie wspominają z dumą: oni byli w tej wielkiej bitwie pod murami Moskwy!” Bitwa trwała cały dzień. Napoleon nie pozwolił Neyowi na rzucenie do walki Gwardii Cesarskiej, która w krytycznym momencie bitwy mogła doprowadzić do zniszczenia armii rosyjskiej: Nie pozwolę na zniszczenie mojej Gwardii. Będąc 800 mil od Francji nie zaryzykuję utraty moich najlepszych rezerw![19]. Pod wieczór walki wygasły. Napoleon Bonaparte nie wykorzystał inicjatywy i dał Kutuzowowi możliwość odwrotu. Straty obu stron były niesłychanie wysokie. Rosjanie stracili od 45 do 50 tysięcy zabitych i rannych, Francuzi około 35 tysięcy. Ciężkie straty kawalerii francuskiej i odmowa rzucenia do boju Gwardii uniemożliwiły podjęcie pościgu za cofającą się ku Kałudze armią rosyjską. Napoleon zajął Moskwę 14 września 1812 roku, lecz zasadniczy cel kampanii, jakim miało być rozgromienie armii rosyjskiej w walnej bitwie, nie został osiągnięty, co niebawem przyczyniło się do klęski Napoleona w Rosji. W latach późniejszych Napoleon pisał, iż spośród 50 bitew, jakie prowadził, w walce pod Moskwą jego armia „wykazała najwięcej męstwa, a odniosła najmniejszy sukces”.