Moral Courage: April 2, 2005

It’s helpful to have positive examples of how to live and to work in a complex world. That’s especially true for those of us honored with the trust of representing the people who elect us to public office. The late Pope John Paul II was certainly an inspiration to me, and to many others.

I admired the moral courage of John Paul II. He wasn’t afraid to go against the tide in defense of human values. He understood the individual value of each human being, and was a champion of human dignity and the Culture of Life. He brought moral clarity to a muddled world of relativistic values, and did so with optimism, cheerfulness, confidence, and grace. To me he was a beacon of virtue, strength, and goodness. John Paul II was a “class act.”

Many Alaskans will remember the visit of John Paul II to Anchorage in 1981. During his celebration of Mass on the Delaney Park Strip in Anchorage, he brought words of unity to our unique Alaska culture when he said, “Here many peoples of diverse backgrounds and cultures are drawn into one community of faith. Here Native Alaskans - Eskimos, Aleuts and Indians - join together with people from all parts of the United States to form one community.”

Together we are one Alaska community, and all forty legislative districts, and all forty elected district representatives are part of that one community. We are one family. Everybody counts.

John Paul II will be missed by the entire human community, regardless of individual faiths. We rejoice for his leadership by example. John Paul II truly touched the world and made it a better place because he was one of us.

Respectfully,

Bob Lynn