It all started in the early '90s, with a huge poster on my bedroom wall, of an uber handsome hunk. I only knew his name, Che. Back then, it was all about the super-cool mannerism that I was head over heels for.

Time flew, I grew, learned more, matured and embraced my innate revolutionary zeal. And the cool dude became my cultural icon, my epitome of Freedom, my 'Revolution Icon'.

He was none other than Ernesto “Che” Guevara – the Argentina-born revolutionary who helped topple Cuba’s US-backed dictator, lectured the United States from a UN lectern, penned treatises on Marxism and guerrilla warfare, and sought to export socialism worldwide.

Later, another image of Guevara would spread around the world, showing his scrawny, lifeless body on a stretcher, his full head of hair and beard unkempt, and his eyes wide open.

“They said he looked like Christ,” said Susana Osinaga, 87, a retired nurse who helped wash the dirt and blood off Guevara’s body. “People today still pray to Saint Ernesto. They say he grants miracles.” Miracles or no miracles, a motorcycle trip across South America of a 23-year-old churned and turned the most powerful segment of the world.

"I would rather die standing up to live life on my knees", he had said. He lived up to it to the last.
Happy Birthday Che!