History’s Lesson: When Heroes Fall Victim to Their People’s Indifference

DID Press: Ernesto “Che” Guevara, the legendary Latin American revolutionary, was captured in his hideout by government forces — after a shepherd reported his location.
The officer who arrested Guevara asked the shepherd, “Why did you betray a man who devoted his life to fighting for freedom and justice?”
The shepherd replied: “Because the war made my sheep run away.”

A similar story unfolded in Egypt. Muhammad Karim, a courageous Egyptian commander, resisted Napoleon Bonaparte’s French invasion. After his defeat, Napoleon sentenced him to death but said he did not wish to be remembered as the killer of a patriot. Instead, he offered Karim his freedom in exchange for ten thousand gold coins.

Smiling, Karim replied that the merchants of his city owed him more than one hundred thousand coins. Napoleon released him, hoping he could collect the ransom. But none of the merchants paid their debts. They even accused Karim of ruining Alexandria’s economy.

When he returned empty-handed and heartbroken, Napoleon told him:
“I will not execute you for fighting France, but for sacrificing your life for people who never deserved such sacrifice.”

History binds these two tales with a bitter truth: when heroes rise among ungrateful, indifferent, and ignorant societies, their struggle becomes like casting arrows into darkness. As the Arab thinker Rashid Rida once said:
“He who rebels against an ignorant society is like one who burns himself to light the way for the blind.”