dying for another

...my dearly beloved husband Kurt, sat down to watch Motorcycle Diaries.....a story of Ernesto Guevara on his way to becoming 'Che'. It is a deeply moving story of sweet honesty and ardent purpose.

The scene that has stolen my heart and mind this evening, is the one where Ernesto has just been given a birthday party by the staff of a leper colony where he and his friend Alberto have been working for three weeks. He is given the opportunity to say a toast. He uses this opportunity to honor the people of Peru....and makes a political statement about the connection of all people in South America. Reflectively, he walks to the river's edge. This river separates the housing for the staff and those who have leprosy. He decides he wants to celebrate his birthday on the other side, jumps in to swim. It is a dangerous River. No one has crossed it swimming before. He is breathing and making the same noise he makes when he is under a severe asthma attack. The medical personnel are calling for him to come back. The Lepers here the commotion and come to their river's edge to see what is happening. Soon, they figure out that Ernesto is swimming to them. He is swimming to them. They begin to call and guide him, encouraging him to make it. He tires near the the end, and several men jump in the water to bring him on land.

He lands as one near death. He is out of breath. He is cheered by the people, raised up, and led at the front of the crowd.

The thought that went through my mind just then was, "He almost died to cross that river." Then..."He was willing to die for them." This is an emblematic scene of his future revolutionary ways....honoring a people, empowering them, giving them dignity, swimming to them even at the peril of his own death.

Che Guevara.


Peace,
Amysgr