Slowly but steadily we say farewell  to old 2011 and we are welcoming the New Year. This is the best  occasion to make some recaps. Last two and half years of my life I spent among you – Poles in Chicago. I appreciate the experiences I gained  thanks to you. However, I know I will appreciate them fully a few years from now. Tens, dozens of articles, filming materials, interviews and photos showed me that in fact we are a strong social, ethnic and community group in Chicago and in the United States. Therefore, in my works I so often touched upon matters of Polonia and I tried so hard and wholeheartedly to motivate us all to actions! We, Poles live together but separately. Nonetheless, I hope that once again the Chicago Polish community will unite and will be at least as strong as in the early 20th century.

The coming of the new, 2012, forcing to the new. So I would like to thank you for “the ride of my life”!
As of today, December 31, 2011 I say farewell to the Chicago Polish community, retreat from the Polish-American media as a journalist, and I am withdrawing from it’s public life.

I won’t give any reasons that influenced my decision, because they do not have any significance here.With saying goodbye I would like to wish us all, Poles in Chicago and the United States, and my American friends, and representatives of all nationalities: I hope that we all be respected and that the American system and the people will reckon with the Poles. Both the Poles in Poland and Poles in the United States.

Taking this opportunity, I want to thank all of you who over the last few years supported my actions and understood my intentions. I wanted to express my gratitude for the wonderful, unique and talented people who came my way – I thank them for inspiration, good words and for showing me what it means to be a true human being, having the values, principles and belief in them and stick to these rules regardless of the circumstances .
I wish us all peace, a better tomorrow, normality and that you find the “American Dream”, that we came here for!Saying thank you, I am also saying goodbye and at the same time “see you later”, because I am absolutely sure that we will meet again somewhere, sometime…

Ivo Widlak