If it had not been for John Paul II, we would have lived in a different world, and I definitely would not have been able to express myself freely to the press. We Poles would have lived in a different Poland, and a different Europe. If it had not been for his spiritual support, his words and testimony, we would not have had enough strength and hope to undertake the peaceful fight for freedom and human dignity. Earlier, unreconciled to the post-Yalta world order, we began our struggle. In the forties and fifties we fought with the weapons at our disposal, participating in demonstrations. In the sixties and seventies there were strikes and protests in the streets. Our ranks, however, were broken, and the uprisings bloodily put down. Throughout the entire communist bloc, by many means, every urge to freedom, every social move toward democracy, was combated by the totalitarian system. In fact, under these conditions, societies were discouraged from changes and action of any sort. Many organizations of different sizes and types were at work in Poland at that time, but all of them were marginal. Before 1980, I tried to organize a group to fight communism, too. Over twenty years, I managed to gather ten people from a population of forty million. There were several groups like mine in Poland then. There was not, however, much hope of overcoming communism then or in the future. There was no faith that change would be initiated by world leaders. But in this social climate, when the enslaved societies were in a sorry state, when there was uncertainty and apprehension, an unbelievable thing happened. A Pole became Pope. One year after his election, the Pope came to Poland. The whole world observed the millions of people of this communist nation participating in the gatherings — collective demonstrations testifying to the revival of faith and hope, the restoration of a national pride that had been suppressed by the communist regime. Now we could see one another and estimate our strength. The Holy Father spoke to us: “Do not be afraid! Change the face of the World.” These words did not only strike Polish hearts and minds. Consciences began to awaken and the will to act, exemplified by strikes, protests and negotiations, was revived. In the year after the visit of the Holy Father, my ten-person group grew into an assembly of ten million called Solidarnosc. The faith that we could change the world grew as well. Our “Solidarity” felt the support of the democratic world. This is how the real process of transformation, which spread like falling dominoes throughout the enslaved Europe, first began. As the words of the Polish pope inspired a chain reaction of freedom then, now his word must be our inspiration for today and tomorrow. If we follow the path he indicated, we can meet the present global challenges. He readied us for it. It is high time to fulfill the last will of the His Holiness John Paul II: to mark our reality with solidarity, love and dialogue in our everyday lives, locally and throughout the world.