Karol Jozef Wojtyla

The cover of Time magazine (http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2005/pope/)

A hero…… I think of a hero as one who is determined, compassionately driven towards what they do or what they believe in. A hero should not be afraid to take chances. A hero is a person who accepts change with open arms and does what’s right for his or her followers. A hero is a person who believes in himself, and in what is right, no matter what the situation is.

Karol Jozef Wojtyla is best known today by the name Pope John Paul II. Karol was a very determined man. In his younger years when he found out that his family was prone to early death, he was not discouraged and continued on. His parents, after losing an infant daughter before Karol was born, were not discouraged and later had Karol. Just before Karol’s ninth birthday, he lost his mother to heart and kidney problems. When he was 12, Karol lost his 26-year-old brother, Edmund, a physician in the town of Bielsko, to scarlet fever. When Karol was young he almost died twice, once when he was hit by a car and again by a truck in 1944, while he was a college student. With these accidents the only injuries he had was a slight stoop on his shoulder. Even though he didn’t have any injuries when he was young, he had many later in life. He had a dislocated shoulder, a broken thigh that led to femur replacement surgery, the removal of a precancerous tumor from his colon, and a murder attempt by a gunman who shot two bullets and wounded Karol’s abdomen, right arm and left hand. The gunman was, of course, arrested and taken to jail. Once Karol had recovered he visited the gunman in jail, against all of his advisors and forgave him, showing a stunning example of his compassionate determination and beliefs.

President Bush and Pope John Paul II (http://www.honoringpopejohnpaulii.com/)

Karol accepted change with open arms. One of those changes took place when he made a revolutionary visit to the White House. Another was when he visited a synagogue, as a gesture of understanding and compassion for his childhood friend. Another important thing about Karol is that he believed in himself. He knew he could make something out of himself. Before his Papal years he was a member of an experimental theater group, a stonecutter, a published poet, and a chemical company boiler-tender.

This was a man who worked towards what he believed in, influencing all those around him. Throughout his life even as a young man he became passionate in poetry, religion and theater. In 1938 he graduated from secondary school. He and his father moved to Krakow, where he enrolled in Jagiellonian University, where he studied philosophy and literature. In 1940 he took the job as a stone cutter, to avoid being deported or imprisoned, when the Germans invaded Poland. In 1941, Karol lost his 61-year-old father. His father's dream had always been for his son to commit himself to God’s service. 18 months later Karol began studying in a underground seminary. He worked in a chemical plant until the war against the Germans and the Polish ended. He then began studying again. Several years later he earned two master degrees and a doctorate.

This is Karol walking, carrying his rosary (http://religion-cults.com/pope/gallery.htm)

His determination, dedication, spirituality, and selflessness guided him to a life of total service: never wanting for himself but always for how best to serve. In choosing a Pope, the candidate must be a servant of God, that people will lovingly and faithfully believe in, listen to and follow. In taking a chance by choosing the youngest Pope in history, they chose wisely. He will be remembered throughout history for his revolutionary actions, extreme love and compassion and unwavering faith.