My Dad, The Pope, and Other Forms of Greatness

I ended up in Rome with Matt, my parents, and my uncle at the end of a two-week venture through Europe. We were tired of traveling around new cities as a small herd of Americans (which is not so small when measured in poundage or attitude), so we decided to split into two groups for the conquering of Rome – me-Matt and parents-uncle.

Our first day in Rome, the parents-uncle group decided to visit the Vatican, so the me-Matt group went to the Coliseum. When we returned that evening to our bed and breakfast (which turned out to be some guy’s apartment) we debriefed on our day’s adventure.

They told us all about their Vatican tour and how my mother (whose favorite movie is The Sound of Music) had a particular fascination with their tour guide whose name was Julie Andrews. Not only did she share a name with this great actress but she walked, talked and looked like her, too. She even carried an umbrella! They half expected her to burst into song, "Just a spoon full of papal..."


“Oh, by the way,” my dad said, “look at this photo I got.” And he pulled out his camera and showed us this:


“WHAT?!” I screamed. “You saw the pope!?”

“Yeah,” my dad said, a little surprised at my enthusiasm. “Apparently, he comes out on Wednesdays and we just happened to find ourselves at the front of this barricade where he was driving by.”

“I can’t believe you saw the pope!” I kept saying. In true Protestant form, my dad assured me that this encounter was not really meaningful to him but since he was there he took advantage of this good candid moment. He was happy to get such a good papal-picture but was frustrated that it was out of focus. As you can see, the photo doesn’t focus on the Pope but, rather, the crowd.

My sentiments were similar on focus frustration but the more I have looked at this photo (and I look at it often) the more I realize that it is not out of focus. The camera captured the essence of the pope, if not his form. After all, the pope is not a single man but an office (of men, of course). This photo captures what gives meaning to his form – a venerating people. Everyone knows that the pope is really great, even people like me… who don’t know why.

I often struggle with the form that greatness takes. I think my form looks disfigured against its backdrop. I think I’m missing a leg, somewhere in the middle.

I study the faces caught in a moment of wonder and I wonder… what is greatness?

(click photo to enlarge)