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Jody Bottum\u2019s lengthy piece on \u201cJohn Paul the Great\u201d (Weekly Standard, April 18) is characteristically insightful and elegant. A couple of Bottum\u2019s points stand out. He describes John Paul\u2019s \u201cstar\u201d quality, emphasizing \u201can obvious and easily triggered sort of joy <\/i> : the ability to please and the ability to be pleased that combine to make a man seem radiantly alive.\u201d He also emphasizes throughout that John Paul\u2019s great contribution was his refusal, especially in regard to the Soviet bloc, to accept the apparent \u201cavailable historical options\u201d as the only political and cultural possibilities: \u201cHistory labors down its worn tracks, and the poverty of human possibilities leaves us few choices. Or so it often seems. But not always. Not while we remember that living in truth is always possible. Not while we remind ourselves of the message of hope preached ceaselessly by Karol Wojtyla. Not while we recall John Paul the Great.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jody Bottum\u2019s lengthy piece on \u201cJohn Paul the Great\u201d (Weekly Standard, April 18) is characteristically insightful and elegant. A couple of Bottum\u2019s points stand out. He describes John Paul\u2019s \u201cstar\u201d quality, emphasizing \u201can obvious and easily triggered sort of joy : the ability to please and the ability to be pleased that combine to make […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3021,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n