Fidel and the Good People
December 9, 2016
by Nelson Valdes
We are born, we grow up, and we live. This happens within a given historical context. We are products of the social, economic, political, cultural-emotional environments. We are also our history; but most people are not even aware of their surroundings and the conditions that influence and affect them. Fidel Castro was shaped by all these circumstances; and he seemed to be very much aware of his context and place. This is not, at all, surprising – his Jesuit education played a very important formative influence in his primary and secondary education. Moreover, he was a student who had to live at the school’s facilities because in the town of Biran, where he was born, there were no schools that could meet the children and teenagers’ needs. Fidel went to the best private and Jesuit schools in the country (Colegio Dolores in Santiago de Cuba and Belen in Havana). In fact, most of the political and economic leaders of Cuba in the first half of the 20th century attended those two schools.
As a child, Fidel had the singularity of being physically athletic, intelligent and with a strong determination. He was a thinking child who did not show signs of fear. He was also –usually– taller than the rest of the boys of his age. His memory and daring also stood out.
From a young age, Fidel was a good student with a prodigious memory. He like to read about history, literature, and geography, among other subjects. He also had the gift of remembering the names of people as well as facts. He paid attention to details and from his Jesuit teachers learned to be analytical. He was not known to be a dancer –something so Cuban– but he made up for that by being a baseball and basketball player, an explorer and a swimmer. He loved the outdoors, walking and hiking. He was born with the gift of wanting to learn everything and of being able to express his ideas, and to draw conclusions on the basis of what he observed–and also take action. He had a sense of himself, his environment, the moment and its possibilities. That he learned at school. He liked sports, books, adventure, exploring nature but also learning philosophy, letters, the law, history, sciences and, of course, politics. This was also part of his schooling. He was a militant in the Ortodoxo Youth and became an influential voice in the Cuban People’s Party (Ortodoxo) – which had the motto of “dignity against money” [verguenza contra dinero]. In fact, by an odd coincidence, Fidel followed the same educational path as Eduardo Chibás, who also went to the Dolores school in Santiago as well as Belen in Havana and the University of Havana. Many of Fidel’s teachers had been Chibás’ instructors as well. It is from Chibás that Fidel learned the style of public speaking that made both famous. But Chibás lacked the athletic side. Strangely, Fidel was born on August 13, 1926, while Chibás was 19 years older (born on August 15, 1907).
Money did not attract Fidel’s attention. And from a young age he had the gift of the spoken word. Like many young people, he read José Martí and that influence followed him forever (Most Cuban politicians mentioned Marti in their public speaking, including Fulgencio Batista, but Fidel became an authentic Martí disciple). In the 1940s – while in high school – when the Cuban parliament was discussing the secularization of public schools, Fidel spoke against it on behalf of his school.
More:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/12/09/fidel-and-the-good-people/
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to read books for him, and tell him about them, leaving out the complicated parts.
Welcome to D.U., zippythepinhead. 
Great to be here.
