Sample 2: A crash

History is a strange beast. Many people ignore it, finding the lessons of the past to be irrelevant to their day to day lives. What these people don’t realize is that the phrase “history repeats itself” isn’t just a fun saying. It’s a fact that the world has witnessed and suffered through time and time again. A lesser known aspect of history is that it has a sense of irony and a sick sense of humour.

This sick sense of humour is present in the Polish Air Force crash. For those of you unfamiliar with the tragedy, on April 10th a plane was carrying basically the entire government of Poland to Russia. Some top officials included the President of Poland Lech Kaczynski, his wife and First Lady Maria, the joint chiefs of staff (army, navy, air force) the president of the national bank, head of the National Security Bureau, three deputy parliament speakers, the Polish foreign minister, and many more. In easy terms, an airplane killed a government.

Why were these people all together and why were the headed to Russia? That’s where history’s twisted humour comes into play. They were all headed to Russia to attend an event that marked the 70th anniversary of the Katyn Massacre. The Katyn Massacre took place shortly after the Soviet Union invaded Poland in World War 2, and left over 20,000 people dead. The government officials who were trying to respect and remember one of Poland’s greatest tragedies ended up involved in another one.

In sheer cost of life the event may seem trivial to some. There were only 96 people on board. In terms of death caused by an airplane crash, that doesn’t even crack the top hundred. But anyone who was alive when President Kennedy was assassinated can empathize with the Polish people today. No one alive on that day will never forget where they were or what they were doing. Neither will the millions of Polish people around the world forget April 10th, 2010.

Another tragedy of the crash was that the Polish government was trying to thaw relations with Russia. Even though the Soviet Union, and with it communism, fell over 20 years ago, the wounds are still raw and open between the nations. It is difficult to forget what Russia did to Poland in World War 2, even if Russia was under a different name. Instead of healing the wounds, salt has been sprinkled on them. Conspiracy theorists are quick to latch onto the fact that the plane went down in Russian air space. The grieving need to blame someone, and the country that has wronged them so many times is an easy choice.

Although it may not feel like it to the average North American, the world has changed a little bit. In what ways and how it will effect everyone is still to be seen. History has dealt Poland a horrible hand. Today, lets grieve for them as we would our own president’s death and hope that one day they can forgive.