Members of the Marquette and local communities gathered Tuesday to learn about making a difference from someone a Marquette official called the embodiment of "leadership in its truest form," Nobel laureate and former Polish president Lech Walesa.

Provost Madeline Wake began the ceremony with an introduction, followed by the national anthems of Poland and the United States. On stage, Walesa could be seen singing his homeland's anthem. Some audience members joined him in song, and one man brought a small Polish flag to wave.

University President the Rev. Robert A. Wild welcomed Walesa and the audience, reminding those gathered of the significance of Walesa's visit to Marquette.

"This is special because we are in the presence of a very extraordinary human being," Wild said. "His name is synonymous with courage and conviction."

John Pustejovsky, associate professor of foreign languages and literature, presented Walesa with an honorary Doctor of Laws degree, and Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy Dolan introduced Walesa as "a light (who) arose from the people of Poland."

Walesa spoke through a translator and began his speech — amid laughter from the audience — by demanding their full attention and promising his best effort.

"I'm thinking extra hard as what to say to not disappoint you," Walesa said. "Since you've given me this honor, now it is your time and duty to listen to me."

Addressing the Solidarity movement that Walesa began in a Polish shipyard in 1980, Walesa asked, "Why Poland? Why Lech Walesa? Why did he play such a role?"

Walesa, who Dolan described as a common man, an electrician and father of eight, later answered this question in his statement that everyone has a responsibility to fight for freedom.

Walesa explained Poland's role in the fight against communism by giving the audience a condensed version of Polish history.

"Poland is located between two big nations, Germany and Russia, and I have observed they are very sociable nations who enjoy visiting each other," Walesa said as the audience laughed. "They enjoy taking the shortest way possible, straight through Poland, and sometimes they stop, look around and say, 'This is a beautiful country, why don't we stay longer?' One time, they stayed for 120 years!"

Through the constant occupations, Walesa said Poland was "erased from the rest of the world" and expressed admiration for the faith of the Poles through their constant oppression.

"Then, something incredulous happened," Walesa said. "A Pole was elected Pope."

Walesa said when Karol Wojtyla, or Pope John Paul II, visited Poland a few years after his election, he gave the people of his homeland hope and strength to continue to fight for freedom.

"Thousands, millions of people came to meet the Holy Father," Walesa said. "A year later, it multiplied into 10 million to fight communism. And it wasn't me — I didn't work any harder; I wasn't any wiser than before.

"The Holy Father said something significant: 'Don't be scared — transform the face of the world.' This very sentence caused millions of people to reflect and say they are fed up with the hypocrisy."

Walesa then called the audience to action and said those gathered should and can make a difference.

"For myself and others of religious faith, we knew the second millennium of Christianity was closing," Walesa said. "We were given, directly from heaven, a gift — to start the third millennium with a clean page.

"What we do depends on us."

Describing the current era of globalization and technology, Walesa said a generation of young people around the world is faced with a unique opportunity to stand up for freedom.

"Look how much I can accomplish with only two things on me: a belief in God and a belief in what I am doing," Walesa said. He then asked the audience to imagine what he could have done with "your opportunities, your money, your education."

He said it was important for U.S. citizens to take responsibility for action to improve the state of the world. People must not only commit to making a difference — but also participate — "or others will arrange the world."

Walesa said if people do nothing to make the world a better place, they will have to face questioning from their children or grandchildren as to why no action was taken.

"They will ask, 'Where were you?'" he said.

In closing remarks, Wake thanked Walesa for pointing Marquette in a new direction and said the university would take up Walesa's challenge to transform the surrounding world.

After the presentation, the audience was invited to attend a reception in the Monaghan Ballroom of the Alumni Memorial Union, where attendees swarmed Walesa as soon as he entered the ballroom for the chance to meet and get an autograph from the man with "a very kind face," as one Marquette official described him.

Janet Gottfreid, chief protocol officer for the Office of Public Affairs, said Walesa's claim that everyone is responsible for the condition of the world struck her.

"When he asked what we will tell our children if we don't take action, it was a very poignant moment," Gottfreid said.

To Wake, Walesa's message was a "call to our community to be more of who we claim to be, to make good on what we say to make a difference in the world."

Freshman Louis Thorson said Walesa's ability to engage the audience was what stood out to him.

"He talked to the audience, not at them," Thorson said. "He was about the people — not his accomplishments, but what we should do based on his accomplishments."

Sophomore Dorota Pruski, Walesa's student escort for the presentation of his honorary degree, said she was inspired by Walesa's speech.

"I think he had some very important things to say that we all needed to hear," said Pruski, a native of Poland. "It was one generation passing the torch to a new one.

"It's important that he came to Marquette because he gave a call to look beyond ourselves, beyond Marquette, beyond our country and beyond our generation."