Being decent person
December 18th, 2022
A new sculpture was installed last week in my hometown. Obviously, I had to check it out myself, so braving minus 10 degrees Celsius, I went there on a Sunday morning walk. It is a life-size sculpture of Władysław Bartoszewski, a truly fantastic person, as seen just from the first lines on his Wikipedia page — he was a Polish politician, social activist, journalist, writer and historian. A former Auschwitz concentration camp prisoner, he was a World War II resistance fighter as part of the Polish underground and participated in the Warsaw Uprising. After the war, he was persecuted and imprisoned by the communist Polish People’s Republic due to his membership in the Home Army and opposition activity.
Next to the sculpture, are two plaques — one with a short description of him and his life, the second with a quote, a motto (and a title of his book) — warto być przyzwoitym — which means: it is worth being decent (person).
That’s it — just a few words, but those words carry phenomenally important meaning. To be a decent person, just that. No matter what your circumstances, be a decent person. Its simplicity brings a question, though — why is this simple advice so rarely heard and applied by people I see around me, especially those in positions of superiority or power? Is being decent no longer fashionable? Or was it ever in style? Of course — I am being very naive here, decency among people is rare and laughable and marks a person as an out-of-touch, credulous fool — when an opportunity arises, you got to take advantage of it, morals and decency to be damned.
And yet, that is what I am trying to do with my life. I want to be decent, no matter what the circumstances or potential backlash. I want to be able to stand up for myself and for others who cannot do it themselves. I want to live my life according to a simple moral and ethical creed — do not hurt other living beings. That is it. It cannot be any simpler than that. Am I successful? Not quite and not completely. I was never really challenged on it, I was never in a situation where I would risk anything important for standing up to this. I’d like to think that I will be able to do what is right when I will be called to show action, not just empty phrases. Talking (and thinking) is easy, and actions might have consequences. So, I think I still need to do better, to be ready to stand up for what I believe when necessary. But I do see a lot of progress already, and I am quite pleased with it and my way of thinking. Life is an ongoing work in progress, I expect to only get better as I practice more of this elusive decency.
