A new meaning to the word…life...

Many times I have said that the children of Belize are just like the children of America, but when I sit down and think about this, I am totally wrong. These children are amazing in what they do every day in their schools, communities, and at their homes. Yesterday afternoon we had an assembly for the Form 1 (freshman) students after school with Mr. Nunez—the author of the book all the Form 1 classes are reading. Mr. Nunez grew up on the island of San Pedro and he wrote a book of many different stories that took place in the evolution of what San Pedro Island is today. The stories range from folk tales to myths, from personal experiences to country wide facts. During the assembly I was sitting by a troubled student and I figured I would have to keep him quiet, but boy was I wrong. He kept leaning over to me repeating what Mr. Nunez was talking about and asking me questions. This young man was so engaged in the speech that he almost couldn’t control himself. He was laughing at the jokes and critically thinking about all the facts of his home town. I know this seems minor to most people, but as a teacher, when you see a child really focus in on something because it is meaningful to him, then all the bad behavior kind of goes out the window. My point of this story is to reflect on how much the children of San Pedro care for their community, their island, their home. I see kids in America everyday throw trash out the window of their car; treat their communities like a dump, steal, lie, cheat, and so much more. They do all these things with out a care in mind. It is almost like second nature to them. I’m not saying that students in San Pedro do not participate in these cruel acts, but these students of San Pedro are always the first ones to stand proud for their town, and they make this very clear. How often do you see children in America support their country for whom we are as a community? Of course people want to complain about the government, financial issues, and health care; but why do we not ever rejoice about the facts that we are free to love, free to laugh, and free to worship?
Every night here there are children on the streets working, yes working, for their families so that they can put food on the table. If you would go into any American home as ask a child to go walk the streets from after school until dark, selling necklaces so that they could help with their families income, how many do you think would drop everything—their social life, their grades, their TV/video games—to help their families? I would take a safe guess and say not very many. Agree? These children do, all of them. They know what has to be done for their families to barely make it by. And better yet, they still get their homework done, they still make it to school the next day, they still have friends, and best of all, they still smile every chance they get.
I know that when the time comes to leave San Pedro, there is no doubt in my mind I will walk away with a new meaning of life. We always say it’s not about the cars, the clothes, or the money…how hypocritical, because up until now, of course it’s been about all those materialistic things. We as Americans feel that we can change that part of our lives. Well to be honest, that’s not the part that I want to change anymore. The addition to my “meaning of life” starts with working harder, providing love and laughter to my family every chance I get, and smiling every minute of the day. These children have taught me how to care for my community, how to get out there and figure things out on my own, and to know that no matter what, there will always be someone that loves you!