the Informer

A plane crash in Russia on Saturday has nearly crippled Poland. The country’s president, Lech Kaczynski, his family and dozens of Polish dignitaries died in the crash. The country, as well as Poles around the world, has been in mourning since. This has been detrimental to Poland as a whole, politically and socially. President Barack Obama will be traveling to Poland this weekend for the president and his wife’s funeral. According to a statement from the White House, “The president will travel to Krakow to express the depth of our condolences to an important and trusted ally, and our support for the Polish people, on behalf of the American people.” It is a huge tragedy. But, throughout all of this media coverage, I feel as though people have forgotten that 95 other people, besides Kaczynski, died in the crash as well. Maybe I’m overreacting, or maybe I’m not reading the right news sources, but I have seen little information regarding the other victims on the plane. In some ways, it seems like the media thinks one death is more important than another. There are approximately 90 other families who have lost a brother, a sister, a mother, a father, a son or a daughter. These people were part of someone’s life, and I can barely find any information on any of them. The most information I could find on them was this description from the Associated Press: “On board were the national bank president, deputy foreign minister, army chaplain, head of the National Security Office, deputy parliament speaker, Olympic Committee head, civil rights commissioner and at least two presidential aides and three lawmakers, the Polish foreign ministry said. Kaczyinski’s wife, Maria, also died.” I understand to the deepest extent how sad, untimely and ultimately horrifying it is that the president died in the crash. Any country who faced such a tragedy would be set back infinitely and would very obviously be in a state of mourning. There is a sense of loss in the country, especially when such high figures of power have lost their lives. It’s hard to imagine how the country will come back from this any time soon. It’s also an eerie story, if you know any information about the location where the plane crashed. The plane was heading to the Katyn Forest where Kaczyinski would honor the 22,000 Polish prisoners of war who were killed by the Soviet Union’s army during the Cold War. The plane crashed in the middle of the woods, where it is believed thousands of these POWs were murdered. It is horrifying really; there’s really no other way to put it. Kaczyinski was going to demand to know the truth about those exact murders. He was going to bring justice to those murdered so many years ago. He was a great man, and it is unfair that he died in the crash. But this media coverage seems to degrade the others’ deaths in a way. They are 95 nameless souls, taken away from this life. No life is more important than another, but it’s hard sometimes to remember that these people were there too when all you see in the news is information about the president. No doubt, he was a great man who deserves to be mourned, but there are still others. So let us, as a whole, remember the 95 other people aboard that flight, and let us preserve their memory in Poland’s time of need.