It is stunning to me, unbelievably so to me sometimes, how some countries just shoot themselves in the foot.
Take, for example, Poland, where I’m currently residing (and leaving…)
You know what’s fascinating to me is countries like Poland that have such a low birth rate and aren’t even welcoming of the right foreigners.
Like, what exactly is the plan here?
I know I know the world will always correct yada yada. And maybe they will. Maybe in 30 years they’ll make a law about tax-free for life if you have more than 3 kids and the population will soar and everyone will live in utopia.
But…
There’s always this thing in play here.
Which is the premise of “not now, not my problem”.
Our lifespans, all laughably short.
And, we’re selfish to a degree.
(Especially those politicians, thieving goblins that they are, never do anything for anyone but themselves, and certainly never have the cajones to sit in a trench with bullets whizzing over their heads, but they’ll certainly order your children to go do so…)
But, beyond that, this email has a sad tale, which was that it was Little Miss Mau’s last day of school tomorrow because we got the boot-zo from Polsko over our visa status and had to move up our moving timeline.
As a father, it’s hard to watch your kid having to say goodbye to friends made, even if she’ll likely keep very little memory of it long term. I know, kids are resilient as all. But, I was a sensitive kid. I know how hard it was to change schools. I struggled with making friends for much of my life until I “figured out” myself at age 14 and lost 80 pounds, and then figured out girls and started my whole dating blog thing.
Life’s hard.
And yes, she will be fine, and long-term this was planned and will be better for her anyway.
But, what gets me, is that…
Poland “should” have been been happy to have us.
Little Miss spoke fluent Polish and would have, for all intents and purposes, grown up Polish. My wife already speaks Polish. I of course, being the typical Arrogant America Expat, haven’t learned a lick. But, we were pretty well integrated. Living in the same place, paying rent for 3 years, contributing to local economy, I had an office here, back when I was drinking, spending plenty of money at the bars weekly…
And yet…
Because of a technicality (and 3 long years, I mean I don’t know the depths of incompetent in Poland government hell, but come on…), we’re gone.
And we’ll take all that earning potential, entrepreneurial spirit, and more to our next location.
Sometimes, that’s how the cookie crumbles — but I guess it doesn’t matter if the cookie tasted like shit anyway.
If you’re a founder who actually wants talented people instead of kicking them out, we can help with that:
