"Child of My Environment" - Che Guevara

“A Child of My Environment,” a speech given to medical students by Che Guevara, discusses one man’s travel and personal growth and development from a medical student to a political activist. As a young man who grew up in a wealthy family, Guevara went attended medical school in the hopes of curing diseases and becoming a famous researcher, something that would benefit humanity and be a personal triumph. However, after he graduated instead of pursuing a private practice, he chose to travel through Latin America. Originally intended to offer wisdom to the people, Guevara traveled “first as a student afterward as a doctor.” Not only did he become intimate with the country, but also its culture, its people, and even its sicknesses- something that he encourages not all doctors but all revolutionists to do. By examining and becoming one with his neighbors, Guevara believed in a social change, a revolution that would change Cuba and its people. This change, he believed, required him to take on the task of becoming a revolutionary doctor- an idea that for me is very conflicting.

A revolutionary doctor starts with a revolution that therefore begins with understanding society and its people, yourself, and the internal and external challenges society faces. Guevara believed that in order to be a truly successful revolutionist you needed to understand ach of these factors and know your patient on an intimate level. In other words, instead of being an outsider, a doctor must become an insider who is “a representative of those who come near pain and relieve it, a who consequently has a great deal for social life.” The problem with this philosophy is that often time’s revolution requires one to take drastic changes including violence and putting your own life at stake. However, as a doctor Guevara believes that you must also know and connect with your patient emotionally. In my opinion, this type of belief, which in theory sounds nice, in reality, is too conflicting. Doctors have the role of helping others and by making them be the forefront person in charge of social change, contradict with the medical oaths doctors must take. However, I do agree that in order to know your patients, you must connect with them and understand their struggles, but in essence to order to prosper in social life, you must separate your emotions from what medical treatment is best.

Social changes like revolutions often require collective thinking where doctors think more individually because they treat individuals on a case-by-case basis. A revolution therefore starts with one person then turns into a collective unit or group working towards a common goal. Asking a doctor to become revolutionary is asking too much responsibility. Doctors serve as grass root people who help contribute to change and if they had to lead it like Guevara describes, then they would be contradicting their medical role in society.