Essay On Polish In America

738 Words3 Pages
Polish in America Axia College Hello, my name is Milek Sadowski. I am a college student living on the East coast of Florida. There are not many Poles here in Florida; to be precise, only .2% of the population speaks Polish at home (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000). I have even encountered people who did not know that Polish was a real ethnicity. They simply thought a Pollack was a fictional character in a long line of jokes. You know the jokes I am talking about. “How many Poles does it take to screw in a light bulb?” “Did you hear about the Pole that walked into a bar?” People laugh at these jokes, but it is insulting to my heritage, and to me. I overheard someone telling a Polish joke today. I cannot begin to tell you how insulted I was. I am proud of my Polish heritage. My ancestors first moved to America in 1900. They settled in the mid-West. They moved to America to earn money and return to Poland at a later date. Life was difficult in Poland; many…show more content…
It is difficult to maintain one’s heritage when one is not living with others who share the same heritage. Many Polish that left these heritage-rich areas lost touch with their ethnicity. This is called assimilation. After spending time in an area that does not have a high concentration of Polish individuals, I can see how easy this process is. Though I try to maintain my Polish traditions, I find it difficult when there is no one of Polish decent to share them with. I do have a very ethnic group of friends though. We help each other to celebrate our diversities. For example, during special occasions my friends and I each bring a traditional dish from our own country and have dinner together. I look forward to our pluralistic dinner every holiday season. I enjoy celebrating my traditions, while at the same time, celebrating their traditions as
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