rebel?

in recent history it has become popular to see the famous image of ernesto "che" guevara with beretta on posters, t-shirts, and magazines. Most of the time, these images are used to gain attention or some sort of credibility. Just today I saw a pretty cool shirt with his face emblazoned upon the front and the the number 10 with name guevara and the words freedom fighter on the back, soccer jersey style. Ah, Che the great revolutionary!

While it is important to remember the contributions of such men to revolutionary history, it is eqaully important to remember the values they stood for. Guevara for the most part has become a symbol of the rebel, a symbol that can be enticing in today's society. However, simply donning a t-shirt with Guevara's face, in my opinion, does no justice to what the man truly stood for and what he truly accomplished; a shirt doesn't make one a rebel.

The crux of my point is that one 's acts should reflect his/her values. If one were to wear a Guevara shirt (or any similar symbolic clothing), I would hope that that person has a strong idea of what Guevara stood for, why he did what he did, why hundreds died for his cause, and believes in some part of his cause - Not just to make a fickle, insubstantial fashion statement, like with the jersery style shirt i saw today.

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The Motorcycle Diaries only increased my interest in Guevara's life, and I recommend this movie to all. It'd be nice to become more enlightened about the times and lives and ideas of other such leading historic figures, alive with the passion of a set of values.