Motorcycle Diaries

At Ken Buck's recommendation, I rented and watched the movie the Motorcycle Diaries, the story of Che Guevara's motorcycle trip across South America with his buddy that helped shape some of his views that turned him into the revolutionary he became. I didn't realize it was subtitled, but after a while, you don't even notice.

There's a great scene in the movie while they're volunteering at a leper colony in Peru. As they head across the river to meet the lepers, one of the doctors hands them a pair of gloves and explains that even though leprosy is not contagious, it's their policy. Seeing the symbolism in this, they decide not to wear the gloves. When they get to the colony, they go to shake hands with a leper, who asks the doctor if they've been told about the policy. He explains that they had, and the two shake hands, the leper's face lighting up to have that kind of contact with someone, to be looked up on that way. Reminds me of the way Jesus treated people in the Gospels.

I didn't know a lot about Che Guevara going into this movie. Watching the way he and his buddy spend years traveling Latin America and living amongst the poorest of the poor, he sees the separation of classes, the separation of the countries and wants to set it right, to bring equality. I've been trying to figure out what social justice looks like in my own life - beyond just noticing the injustices of the world, and actually setting about changing things to impact the bigger picture. I think what I'm doing with Project 311 does that to a degree, but I look at the impact of Che Guevara, right or wrong, and wonder what my impact will be on the world. Seeing these two guys travel 10,000km made me realize how little I've seen of the world, and even how what I've seen in America has been so safe and tame.

Tags: Che Guevara, Motorcycle Diaries