Americans can learn from Poland's past

People don’t appreciate what they have until they lose it. For example, if your water line breaks and you go without showers for a couple of days, you have a whole new appreciation for the water company.

Too often, Americans focus on what we don’t have, and we take the simple things in life for granted. But the freedoms and standard of living we’ve always known are not guaranteed. Just look at what has happened in other places around the world.

For example, today Gdansk and Gdynia are vibrant port cities in Poland. With metro populations of a million people, they are part of Poland’s success s...