CHE HAS LOST ME

Now for the first time, Che is signing his letters "El Che," having adopted the nickname given by his Cuban comrades. The year is 1956.

He says he has given up his concept of self to become part of the group. He writes to his mother that he hates moderation and self-interest. He talks now about dying for the cause, an idea that he seems to find glorious.

Not me. Maybe because I have never been there, never walked in those revolutionary shoes. It always seems to me that there is good and bad in everyone, and in most political systems. I can't imagine dying for Che's ideals. Or dying for Fidel Castro.

Maybe I am too old to feel the way Che felt at 24 or 25. I am on Page 204 of Jon Lee Anderson's bio of Che. And 1956 is the year I graduated from high school. Che was ten years older than me.

I am not him, and he is not me. If I was there, then, with what I know now, and I had to choose a side, I think I'd go to New York and become a poet.

If I had to choose an Argentine to admire, I'd choose Jorge Luis Borges, a writer, not a fighter, as far as I know.

But I didn't see the things that Che saw. I have never seen brutal injustice up close. So I don't condemn him or vilify him. All I can say is that he isn't me, and I am not him.

-- Roger

© Copyright 2011, Roger R. Angle

EGYPT NOW

I don't know much about Egypt. Many years ago, I dated a Greek girl who had been raised in Egypt. She was beautiful. Her name was Marie. Hubba hubba.

But as I read and hear news reports, mostly from NPR and the NY Times, my favorite news sources, I get the feeling that those are my brothers and sisters over there who are protesting. 

I say right on! Power to the people! Sounds like they are long overdue for a peaceful revolution.

I hope they get democracy and a functioning government.

But I have this warning: It is not going to be easy, and it is not going to be perfect.

Look at us here in the good old USA. Sometimes, democracy is a mess. Sometimes, it is threatened by well meaning people who are misguided. Sometimes, freedoms are misused.

But it beats the hell out of tyranny and torture.

Good fortune to you all, my Egyptian brothers and sisters.

Copyright 2011 by Roger R. Angle.