Blog 6: What do you fight for?

While reading "The Underdogs" by Mariano Azuela, I was moved by the speech Luis Cervantes  made to Demetrio Macías about what he was really fighting for.  Luis pointed out that Demetrio needed a broader view of the revolution and not to concentrate on making his part of the country better and fixing its problems.  Demetrio was focused on fighting what he thought was one man that had done him wrong, and in doing so narrowed his view to just that part of the country.  It is pointed out to him by Luis that things will never change for his people for the better if he doesn't fight the source of the problem and not just the leader.  New leaders with the same values will continue to take control as soon as the old leaders are ousted, and nothing with change.  

Luis's motivation is to fight the idea rather than the person implementing it.  In other words, he wants to fight the idea of tyranny instead of just the tyrant.  Luis encourages Demetrio to go and join the bigger revolution going on in the country because it will help the cause against the idea rather than just the leader.

This idea of fighting the idea rather than the leader is something I think can be used in many situations.  Whenever you are trying to fight to change something, it is always better to fight the idea rather that the person.  A person can change their ideas and minds quickly, switching from one side to another, but if you prove to them that the idea is wrong and not just them, it will be easier to accept.  In the end a nice life lesson can be learned from this: criticize ideas, not the person carrying them out.