Who Was ...? biography series for middle grade brings rebellious figure of Che Guevara who was a leader of the Cuban Revolution and became a symbol of youthful rebellion.
Ernesto Guevara (1928-1967) was born in the port city of Rosario, Argentina. From young age, he craved adventure. While in school, he still traveled whenever he had a chance. While traveling, he began to write in his journal every day.
He still had two semesters of medical school to finish when his friend asked him to join him on a trip on his motorcycle to Venezuela. On this trip, they met people of different backgrounds and saw how they lived. It left a lasting consequence on Ernesto.
After graduating from medical school, he traveled to Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador.
Then, while in Guatemala, he learned about communist and how the current president of Guatemala was taking the land owned by rich people and corporations, then redistributing it to the poor. Ernesto became passionate about this idea of helping the poor. While on his travels, he met many poor people who worked hard and hardly got paid.
In Mexico City, he began his work as a doctor. There he met lots of Cubans who began calling him Che meaning friend. Through them, he met Fidel Castro, who told him about Cuba’s situation of being controlled by a small group of wealthy people, and he wanted to overthrow the government. He asked Che for help, and they succeeded. Afterwards, Castro asked Che to help him govern Cuba.
In 1964, Che spoke at UN in NYC criticizing the US and other countries for taking advantage of the land and the people of the poorer nations.
After coming back to Cuba, he decided to go to Bolivia which was run by a dictator and to try to overthrow the government. On October 8, 1967, he was captured and killed the following day.
This biography embodies true nature of a man who rebelled against injustice. As a young man, he looked for adventure and found the truth and tragedy of his country.
Source: Penguin Workshop, 2019
TRENDING
INSPIRATION: Take Action When You See Injustice
Traits:
·
He craved adventure and to see what was beyond
what he knew
·
He wrote his experiences in his journal every
day
·
He witnessed human injustice and wanted to make
a difference
·
He took action in making poor people’s lives
better
“Above
all, try always to be able to feel deeply any injustice committed against any
person in any part of the world. It is the most beautiful quality of a
revolutionary.” Che Guevara
“We
were…two young men-boys, really-who went looking for adventure and found the
truth and tragedy of our homeland.” – Alberto Granado (trip with Che through
South America)
FURTHER INSPIRATION
AND RECOMMENDATION:
The Genius of Jesus: The Man Who Changed Everything by Erwin Raphael McManus - What is the purpose of your life? How can your life matter? There is more to life than simple existing. How do you find your purpose in life?
To better understand it, many study the works of geniuses. There are many of them in different disciplines, including science, arts, and philosophy. I always thought that the greatest of them was Leonardo da Vinci, but the author reasons it was Jesus. The one that never gets to be mentioned as genius and who left the most lasting impact. And there is a big difference between other geniuses and the one of Jesus. The others saw new ways in their fields; Jesus saw a new way to be human. His genius is reverse from the others. Not everyone is born a prodigy, but everyone has ability to transform into better.
Jesus’ genius was “how he engaged people from every walk of life, and how he dealt with controversy, conflict, and opposition.” The little interactions we experience every day matter and how we handle them.
The author interestingly illuminates different kinds of geniuses with concise examples; how we see it in modern time and how they were approached by Jesus and what a difference his methodology made. I enjoyed how he recaptures what, for example, empathy or ethics mean. My favorite was the genius of grace and how he profoundly learned that lesson that shapes his life to this day. He reminds us that in those most strenuous situations in life it might be hard to keep that grace, but those are the lives’ lessons worth noting and learning from. It’s not always easy to rise above the fray, but “grace gives us room to grow, to change, to mature.” The past doesn’t define our future.
McManus is a gifted wisdom-teller, who was an average student and an introvert. While studying genius in college and searching for his purpose in life, he ran into Jesus of Nazareth and that put him on his extraordinary journey, defying those who didn’t see him achieving much in life. He rose to achieve Doctorate degree and to be an advisor to the CEOs and others among many other achievements. He is a true testament to what he preaches about.
