Bob Marley is another one of those guys it seems so many young people look up to and idolize. I think it's the compassion and ability to relate and speak for the poor expressed through songs like "Woman, No Cry" that makes him great, his willingness to stand up to the powerful, his way cool lyrics and beats, and the amazing dreds. People mourned his death bitterly and understandably so. How could death steal such a great man?

Then one day this idea popped into my head. Yeah, same thing happened to Jesus. But as a Christian I believe He rose again. Death could not keep the good man down! I'll have to write more another time.

Che Guavera and Jesus

So, I'm gonna confess something. I bought a Che Guavera chain before. What was it that drew me to it? It's the spirit he represented. The passion, the reckless fight for freedom for the poor, and yeah the rebel in me. I really had no idea who he was when I bought it, and let's just say I got a little talking to from my dad about it. I see Che's picture everywhere especially because I'm a student at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, BC. I am an idealist, what can I say. The word "revolution" sets me off like nothing else.

I've just recently read an article about his life that has seriously changed my view of him. He like many other revolutionaries may have had good intentions but in order to "keep their power," they destroyed anyone who might be a threat to them, even only suspected. He really became a "killing machine." Ouch, doesn't quite fit with my nice, elementary teacher look eh?

My goal is not to make you think he was the enemy, but I've learned human beings are extremely fallible. In my view Jesus has the same desire as Che Guavera did. He wants to see justice for the poor, but He sees perfectly and knows the true enemy is hatred. We've gotta look at our own lives and deal with the anger and lust for power before we can try and bring that to others.

If there's one thing I love about Jesus it's that He was willing to give up the power, to truly humble himself. He said His kingdom wasn't of this world. You know how he could do that? Because He knew who He was- the Son of God. He knew that every person is going to bow before Him one day. But He didn't have to brag about it. He just loved the lowest of the low. So He's the one I'm gonna follow. He got killed in His battle for love like all true revolutionaries. He wouldn't let the hate get to Him. Even to His very last hours, He cried out, "Father forgive them. They don't know what they're doing." And it's true in a world full of fear and confusion, it's hard to know who's to blame for all the injustice in this world. It's really easy to shoot people down, because it looks like the easy answer. But we could end up shooting down our true friends. We gotta forgive but we also gotta speak truth no matter what. This is fun I could talk about this all night long.