From the first step he took on to the world stage, Lech Walesa was destined to leave an indelible memory.
A walking symbol of the overthrow of the communist regime in Eastern Europe in 1989, Walesa rekindled new hope for the legions shackled by soul-killing communism and with all odds against it ever happening, the terms "Gdansk shipyards" and "Solidarity" became household words.
"As Lech Walesa and his trade union activists sought to throw off communism 36 years ago, newly elected Pope John Paul II visited his homeland and told fellow Poles to dare to 'change the face of the earth.'
"We had no strength, no great will, I had only 10 people who were willing to work along with me and fright for freedom in a nation of 40 million," Walesa told the Associated Press in a telephone interview yesterday. Then, Walesa said, the Pope made his legendary 1979 trip to Warsaw and celebrated a mass that drew a million people in a capital then behind the Iron Curtain.
"The entire world was looking at Poland and saying, 'Such a Communist country, but everyone is going to see the Pope,'" Walesa recalled.
"The Holy Father told us: "Don't be afraid, change the face of the Earth, be strong believers.' Then all of a sudden people thought about his words and woke up. They regained the will for action." (Edmonton Sun).
Looking back on his own life, Walesa said: "I had conversations with all the power people of the world: with presidents, with prime ministers, chancellors and kings. None of them believed that there was any chance of us toppling Communism before the year 2000. I didn't meet a single person among those people who would believe that was possible. Not a single one in the whole world."
Red letter days to come for "the electrician who rewired the world" (Venkatesan Vembu, Daily News & Analysis Jan. 29, 2007) included being elected President of Poland and being declared winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.
The breathtaking daring and inspiration of true believer Lech Walesa has never faded from public memory over time. Even now he expresses enthusiasm about coming Poland's ambassador or envoy-at-large.
Donald Tusk, whose liberal, pro-EU Civic Platform won Poland's parliamentary elections, planned to appoint Walesa the ambassador in Washington, the Polish daily Metro reported on Oct. 31.
The reason why Lech Walesa looms so large as a hero on the world stage is because everything he ever did, he did with heart.
And now the man, who proved the power of one over Communism, could die within two months without open heart surgery, which he hopes to have in Houston, Texas.
At age 64, with eight children, and a lifetime that spans centuries in terms of accomplishment, Walesa, who put more energy into saving the world than in savings bonds, lacks the $100,000 needed for the transplant, according to newspaper reports.
"I had very bad medical test results last month and quick actions had to be undertaken," Walesa told reporters in the northern port city of Gdansk, the cradle of Solidarity.
Showing his characteristic humour, he said he was not afraid of the surgery, which would be conducted at a centre in the city of Houston, because he feared only "God, and my wife a little bit".
What is the price of the heart of a hero?
Polish-based journalist and Canada Free Press columnist David Dastych today launched the "New Heart for Lech Walesa Fundraising Campaign".
Write David Dastych for particulars at
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Help David Dastych send the world's most lovable rebel to Houston with God's Speed.
Judi McLeod——
Bio and Archives
-- Judi McLeod, Founder, Owner and Editor of Canada Free Press, is an award-winning journalist with more than 30 years’ experience in the print and online media. A former Toronto Sun columnist, she also worked for the Kingston Whig Standard. Her work has appeared throughout the ‘Net, including on Rush Limbaugh and Fox News.
