Dr. Laura,
I love your advice. Been listening to you on and off for years...mostly because my MOTHER listens to you (and she already is a WISE woman, gifted with council!)
I am currently deployed in 5th Fleet, and my mother gave me your podcasts to listen to in my stateroom (SOMETIMES I DO have "free time"!).
I heard your opening regarding what it means to be a hero and must say I was inspired to share MY hero with you...especially as you referenced the Righteous Gentiles as your heroes. Maximilian Kolbe is more than just a Hero to me...he has been and is a very real influence in my life. His writings, his "all for all" attitude has guided me in my own decisions, his courage has encouraged me to "get up" when I fall due to failure or my own lack of virtue.
I might be considered a "warrior" due to my Commission, but the TRUE warriors and heroes are the ones who are willing to sacrifice self, with no thought of what they might get out of it, in return. Something I learn a bit more about every day and I pray that, if I were ever faced with such an option, I might choose to act with the courage, fortitude and LOVE as my Hero did.
V/R
ENS B., USN
From jewishvirtuallibrary.org:
…During the Second World War, Maximilian Kolbe, a Catholic priest provided shelter to refugees from Greater Poland, including 2,000 Jews whom he hid from Nazi persecution in his friary near Warsaw. He was also active as a radio amateur, with Polish call letters SP3RN, vilifying Nazi activities through his reports.
In February of 1941 he was arrested by the German Gestapo and imprisoned. In May, he was transferred to Auschwitz I as prisoner #16670.
Two months later, a man from Kolbe’s barracks vanished, prompting the deputy camp commander to pick 10 men from the same barracks to be starved to death in Block 13 (notorious for torture), in order to deter further escape attempts. (The man who had disappeared was later found drowned in the camp latrine.) One of the selected men, Franciszek Gajowniczek, cried out, lamenting his family, and Kolbe volunteered to take his place.
During the time in the cell Kolbe led the men in songs and prayer. After three weeks of dehydration and starvation, only Kolbe and three others were still alive. Finally he was murdered with an injection of carbolic acid...
Father Kolbe was beatified as a confessor by Pope Paul VI in 1971 and was canonized by Pope John Paul II on October 10, 1982 in the presence of Franciszek Gajowniczek. Upon canonization, the Pope declared St. Maximilian Kolbe not a confessor, but a martyr...
