It's always been important to me to be Polish-American. Maybe it's just because my last name makes it very obvious where my ancestors came from. Whatever the reason, I'm proud to a Pole, even if I'm one that lives in Wisconsin rather than Warsaw.

Poles and Polish-Americans took special pride in Pope John Paul II. Men like John Paul II and Lech Walesa were living proof that Poles were far, far more than the butt of a joke. These courageous Poles were on the leading edge of a movement that would liberate millions from communist oppression.

With the Pope's death today, I was especially interested to read what Chrenkoff, a Pole in Australia, would have to say. He didn't disappoint. His posts on the Pope, "My Pope" he says, are just wonderful. He too "gets" that Pope John Paul II transcended Catholicism:

If you distill it all into one word, it is this: hope. He gave us hope. By us, I mean initially the Poles, the troublemakers who in 1980 started rocking the communist boat, but his appeal of course transceded any national lines; there was nothing exclusive about him because he embodied and blessed the aspirations of the countless many from Warsaw to Sao Paolo to Cape Town.

Last summer, Americans mourned our own Great Communicator. And I think it's indisputable that Ronald Reagan, along with the Pope, did more than any other individuals to help the brave people of Eastern Europe free themselves from their communist oppressers. I think both of these exceptional men would agree wholeheartedly with Chrenkoff when he says:

When Stalin sneered "The Pope? How many divisions does he have?", he did not understand that we were the Pope's divisions, and that - contra Orwell's dystopic vision - there is no such thing as a boot stomping on human face forever.