It’s a new year and that is a natural time to contemplate our immediate future. It is also normal time to examine the past, it is more important to look forward than to dwell on what went before. So, while cognizant of yesterday, let us look toward tomorrow.

There has been an exciting birth of political interest in the Chicago area and it comes to a head in February, when the Primary Election is held. With more Polish American candidates having entered the scene, we can be optimistic, even while recognizing that they will not all be winners. Hopefully, a good number of Polonians will be successful, but more importantly, their efforts are an excellent portent for the future, when we can now reasonably expect Polonia to continue its struggle for political recognition.

Some of the Divisions of the Polish American Congress (PAC) have demonstrated a renewed sense of purpose, particularly in such places as Illinois, New York, California and Ohio, and that is certainly a healthy situation for even better days in 2010. Sadly, though, the national PAC remains moribund, a meaningless shell of an organization, lacking in funds and direction. It still has some perceived power among the unknowing, but even that mirage will soon disappear. We have been preaching reform for several years, but that appeal has fallen upon deaf ears, and the national delegates being either emotionally paralyzed or afraid of losing whatever little personal influence they may have, there is no point in pushing the issue this year. Instead, we now suggest that the national Polish American Congress be dissolved in 2010 and replaced with PAC version 1.2. Hopefully, that would result in a completely new constitution, new vision, and a new method of selecting leadership and representatives. We recognize that this is wishful thinking, as the present representatives would have to take that action, unlikely among persons whose main interest is in themselves, but we believe in miracles and some heroes may emerge.

The Polish American press, whether publishing in Polish or English, is in trouble, but 2010 could be a year of renewal. A good start occurred in Chicago, where the Dziennik Związkowy (also known as the Polish Daily News) opened the year with a new and attractive masthead, and a convenient tabloid format. It demonstrated an open mind on the part of its management and the realization that change may be necessary. Not every publication has to make a radical change this year, but an awareness that new ideas should at least be attempted surely could not hurt a suffering industry. We cannot blame everything on the economy. Sometimes the fault is founded in ourselves.

Polish American organizations, including fraternals, all of which have been facing dwindling numbers in recent years, will have to do some self-examination, too, with an eye toward taking corrective steps. Most of them have been working at this already, some with substantial success, but 2010 is no time to let up on the effort. Workshops, forums and committees about growing the membership is a good start, but no concept, regardless of how unlikely it may seem, can be overlooked. The answers may very well be within some of those improbable notions.

It would be presumptuous for us to express our hopes for this year in Poland, but we are hopeful that it will make advances in tolerance, human rights, and separation of church and state in the near future.

Finally, let us predict and hope that it will be a Happy New Year for all of Polonia.