Full Transcript: Greg Kowalski on His Grandfather's Patriotism
Greg: I did know my grandfather, my mom’s dad, who lived with us until he died in 1973. And he always maintained that he was an American. He had no desire to go back to Poland. He had no real, strong contacts with family back there, there was some but they kind of faded over the years. And he wanted to be here. Poland was his birth place but he was truly an American, even though he didn’t speak English very well, but he wanted to be here. See, and let me just— you know, when you have that, that really tempers your feelings about what you hear today, the rhetoric you hear today. Should English be our official national language? Well it sounds good, but then I think of my grandfather who was a really good citizen here, who barely spoke English to the day he died. These things make you think, you know? They give you a little bit more deeper perspective on things. And it’s easy to come with simplistic answers to the issues that are being raised, especially now.
My grandfather was of the old school. He was a good man, he was nice. There was always a language barrier though with us. And, uh, It’s kind of hard to describe, he had his Polish friends here that he would talk to. They were old, they were both death and they would sit on the porch and they would yell at each other, and they would have two conversations and neither of them were talking about the same thing. But they were good, they were nice. But he was a nice man, he was a decent man. He had a very strong sense of what was right and what was wrong and was a very decent man, and kind, for that too. My dad really, really liked him, they got along really, really well and he liked my dad a lot. So that’s why he lived with us really, until he died.
My grandfather was of the old school. He was a good man, he was nice. There was always a language barrier though with us. And, uh, It’s kind of hard to describe, he had his Polish friends here that he would talk to. They were old, they were both death and they would sit on the porch and they would yell at each other, and they would have two conversations and neither of them were talking about the same thing. But they were good, they were nice. But he was a nice man, he was a decent man. He had a very strong sense of what was right and what was wrong and was a very decent man, and kind, for that too. My dad really, really liked him, they got along really, really well and he liked my dad a lot. So that’s why he lived with us really, until he died.