Pope John Paul II again this weekend showed his determination to give every ounce of his energy to the people on earth. Even after surgery, he insisted on waving at crowds below. It doesn’t matter what religion you are. He’s a religious leader whose life, thirst for freedom and grit will be the stuff of history and legend as long as human beings walk the face of the earth.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.