No Polish Jokes Here

This morning my son John came downstairs to find me busy at the laptop.

"Good morning, Mom," he said, bleary-eyed. "Whatcha doing?"

"I'm trying to get hold of Lech Walesa," I answered. "The former president of Poland."
Oh, where is the digital camera when you need it? Because the look I got from him was nothing short of priceless. The word "incredulous" comes to mind.

I guess he expected me to tell him I was checking my e-mail, or looking up the Kohl's ad online. But I'm positive he didn't figure I'd be trying to contact a former Nobel Prize winner and friend to one of my modern day heroes, Pope John Paul II.

But, hey, you have to dream big, I told him.

And my efforts to contact Walesa aren't completely off base. The 67-year-old Medal of Freedom winner just endorsed Illinois gubanatorial candidate Adam Andrzejewski. I think Walesa ought to talk to Dave, since my husband and Andrzejewski have some pretty similar ideas: less government, sound fiscal policies, protection of life and individual liberties. And both Dave and Andrzejewski are political outsiders who are fighting career politicians who have lost touch with American values.

Walesa should know something about government corruption, too. After all, he and the Solidarity movement he founded in the early 1980s gave courage to an entire nation suffering under the heavy hand of Soviet communism. Though I didn't agree with, or even understand, everything Walesa did in his long career from machinist to president, there's no doubt he knows oppression and corruption when he sees it.

Twenty-five years ago, when Walesa's name was in the headlines nearly everyday, I was just cutting my political teeth. Still, I remember finding my own kind of courage as I watched the moustached Pole galvanize millions of workers.

Today, Walesa is largely forgotten among young Americans. When his picture flashed on my television screen last night, even I thought for a second Captain Kangaroo was in the news. His wild popularity that once gained him the presidency had seriously fizzled when he garnered just one percent of the vote in a comeback attempt a decade ago.

But his political tenacity is something I want my children to study. Dream big. Think outside the box. Have the courage to stand up for what is right.

John and I talked about my hopes to reach Walesa. "Maybe, Mom," he offered, "you shouldn't shoot so high."

"If you don't shoot high, you'll never reach the stars," I replied.

"But to get to the stars, you have to take off first," he said.

I'm pedaling as fast as I can.