Polish President Lech Kaczyński clearly had no time to devote to the New York Polish community during his visit to the city to attend the UN General Assembly session.

Although the President did meet with many prominent representatives of our community at the Polish Consulate, when he appeared he actually had nothing to say. Apart from platitudes, we heard nothing that seemed specifically directed to us. The meeting with this sizeable group – 300 community members attended from the New York metro area – was a great, though wasted, opportunity for him to deliver a message as the representative of the government of Poland.

However much needed, we heard nothing on the state of relations between our motherland and us emigrants. We did not hear any declarations from the government of our country on how Poland perceives us, what we mean to Poland and what the country has to offer us.

Unfortunately, for years we have been unable to shake off the impression of being treated as a convenience by our country: Poland sees its community in the United States as a source of money; as the group who helped lessen unemployment in Poland by leaving the country; and, occasionally, we come in handy when the need arises to represent a Polish politician here or help him strike a deal with the U.S. government.

The feeling of neglect deepened during the meeting on September 22 with the President, when a 15th century missal that disappeared from the City Library of Wroclaw during the war and recently surfaced at a Bloomsbury art auction in New York, was returned to him. The relic is now back in Wroclaw to its rightful owner, according to international law. A review of the negotiations between the American owner and the auction house and Poland to recuperate the historical missal was not possible; however, a look at the list of Poles and institutions that fought for it illustrates how the Polish-American community rushed in with its money to assist in a matter of importance for Poland.

This is not the first time that the Polonia has offered such a noble gesture. So, it is not good at all when our country – and its most important representative, to be precise – sees such a gesture as an obvious thing to expect from us and offers no word of acknowledgement.

The President of Poland indeed has a lot on his shoulders and, one would remark, does not have the time to deal with petty things. Nonetheless, his group of advisers and the country itself seem to share the same attitude towards us – the Polonia. Poland has not been able to come up with a comprehensive and consequent approach towards the Great Emigration, especially to America. In return, Poles living abroad have no clear stance towards their motherland. One misunderstanding begets another; neglect is at the root of the most basic mistakes. The consequence: the President of Poland meets with the Polonia and he has no message for us.