GOODBYE MR. VACLAV HAVEL AND THANK YOU FOR SHOWING US THE WAY

Among all of Mr. Vaclav Havel's contribution to the world-- playright, activist, Czech independence leader, Czech President and what today's New York Times obituary calls 'a global ambassador of conscience'- his least celebrated role might be that of public intellectual.

"Without a global revolution in the sphere of human cosciousness" Mr. Havel told the U.S. Congress back on 21 February 1990, "nothing will change for the better in the sphere of our being as humans, and the catastrophe for which the world is headed- be it ecological, social, demographic, or a general breakdown of civilization-- will be unavoidable. If we are no longer threatened by world war, or by the danger that the absurd mountains of nuclear weapons might blow up the world, this does not mean that we have definitely won. This is actually far from being a final victory". Amazing since these words were spoken 21 years ago.

Mr. Vaclav Havel's greatest contribution, even greater than leading Czechoslovakia to peace and freedom, may have been showing the rest of us the way.