November 4th, 2022 | Laguna Beach News LBindy_11.4.22 for digital | Page 16

16 lagunabeachindy . com NOVEMBER 4 , 2022
FINDING MEANING : POPE JOHN PAUL II

Greatest Act of Leadership

By Skip Hellewell
While still a child , I did exciting things and visited incredible places . . . reading . Shy and bookish , I studied the “ Reader ’ s Digest ,” especially the condensed book at the end of each issue . Good books retold with an economy of words fit this boy ’ s attention span . I went to school as required but it was never as interesting , or as educational , as my world of books . Parental concern about my report cards eventually made me
pay more attention to teachers , but I still like good stories succinctly told .
Though I ’ ve added bookshelves , space is limited so as more books are bought , some must go . I favor the books that inspire multiple readings . Awake in the night , I picked up Gaddis ’ “ The Cold War , A New History ” for one more reading . The Cold War , with the ever-present worry of nuclear holocaust , was the central drama of my time . It was a war without rules or boundaries , mostly fought with bluster . Mao Zedong dismissed the U . S . as a “ paper tiger .” Khrushchev promised the U . S . would simply fall , like a rotten fruit from a tree . Gaddis had written thousands of pages on the Cold War when his publisher got him to write this shorter version , 266 pages . It ’ s my kind of book , a good story , succinctly told .
My favorite chapter tells of Pope John Paul ’ s 1979 return to his native Poland . In Poland , as throughout the USSR , authorities had worked hard to atheize the people , especially the youth , their goal to erase the last traces of belief in God . It was a colossal misunderstanding of human nature ; rarely has a government so badly misread the hearts of
their subjects . Thirty-four years of propaganda unraveled in a moment when , upon the pope ’ s arrival at Warsaw , hundreds of thousand lining the way spontaneously shouted , “ We want God , we want God !” Immense crowds grew at each stop on his visit , a million at Gniezno , more at Czestochowa . By the time he reached his native Krakow , the crowd was estimated at two to three million .
Speaking at Krakow , the pope ’ s theme as everywhere was simple : “ Be not afraid .” In his speech , the pope invoked the powers taught by his namesake , the Apostle Paul , of faith , hope and charity ( translated as ‘ love ’) as being stronger than fear : “ You must be strong , dear brothers and sisters . . . with the strength of ‘ faith ’ . . . You must be strong with the strength of ‘ hope ,’ . . . You must be strong with ‘ love ,’ which is stronger than death . . . There is therefore no need to fear .”
Following the pope ’ s visit , a young Polish electrician named Lech Walesa stood outside the gates of the Lenin shipyard in Gdansk , a picture of the pope nearby , and began to organize the worker ’ s movement , Solidarity . Solidarity grew exponentially
and before the decade had ended , Communist rule of Poland was not so much defeated as simply dismissed in a peaceful election . This is not to minimize the work of others . President Reagan dismissed the prior policy of ‘ détente ,’ as the relationship a farmer has with his turkey until Thanksgiving Day , and then at the Berlin Wall in 1978 , in a speech given against the advice of nervous advisors , cried : “ tear down this wall .”
During World War II , Josef Stalin is said to have rhetorically asked , when issues with the Catholic church arose , “ The Pope , how many [ combat ] divisions has he got ?” Pope John Paul II , just eight months in office , provided the answer in his visit to Poland . If I were asked to name the greatest act of leadership by a religious leader in my lifetime , I could not do better than nominate Pope John Paul II ’ s nine-day return to his native Poland in 1979 . There ’ s meaning in that .
Skip fell in love with Laguna on a ‘ 50s surfing trip . He ’ s a student of Laguna history and the author of “ Loving Laguna : A Local ’ s Guide to Laguna Beach ”. Email : skip @ lovinglaguna . com

FREE DOCUMENT SHREDDING EVENT FOR LAGUNA BEACH RESIDENTS

SAT . - November 12 , 2022

7:30 a . m . - 12:00 p . m . City Maintenance Facilities - 1900 LAGUNA CANYON RD .

This event is offered by the City of Laguna Beach in partnership with Waste Management
DOCUMENT SHREDDING :
There will be a limit of 10 standard boxes per car load or until trucks reach capacity . Items for shredding must be placed in the trunk or rear compartment of vehicle . Drive-through event . Pedestrian traffic not allowed . Vehicles will not be permitted to enter drop-off area after 12:00 p . m . NO 3-ring binders , hanging folders , spiral notebooks , plastic sleeves , and X-rays .
For questions , please visit the City ’ s website at www . lagunabeachcity . net or contact the Public Works Department at ( 949 ) 497-0711 . Please bring proof of residency or Business License .
Event is provided as part of the Franchise Agreement with the City ’ s solid waste hauler , Waste Management .