This wasn't an easy year, especially the first six months. The tempest raged around us, and even in Poland the winds were strong. When you hear each morning that there's less money in the coffers and more people without jobs, you have reason to be worried. Good indices drop, bad indices rise, people look grimmer.

In the end, it wasn't all that bad. There was no recession in the economy, nor in people's minds. Indices, including that of the public mood, are inching up, the world has words of praise for us, domestic political storms are within the boundaries of the acceptable.

Perhaps we don't yet have a sense of strength and stability, but I think our faith in ourselves has increased. We've managed to tame some of the more extreme manifestations of democratic chaos and free-market brutality, and it turns out we can live with them.

Our resilience and perseverance, enterprise and creativity, optimism and imagination have proved strong. Even pessimists admit that there were more pluses than minuses, even if only fractionally.

What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger. We've survived worse storms. Prosperity hasn't spoiled us. These are the kinds of mantras we used to comfort ourselves over the past year. How will the new year turn out? Objectively speaking, it might not be easier. We have experience behind us, but challenges ahead of us.

One of the oldest New Year's wishes in Poland is, "May the new year be no worse than the old one." That, though, is not enough for us, especially in view of that other maxim: "If you're not moving forwards, then you're moving backwards."

And what was it they said in Star Wars? "May the force be with you." And with us.