I had to check myself last week in conversation with Dr. Dennis Young. He has lived in the United States since 1961, but he stays in touch with Belize. He was bringing up names, and after a while I realized that all I was doing was criticizing people. For sure they were people who deserved criticism, but I thought I was sounding like the classic “grumpy old man.”
This is the Christmas season now, so I’d like to praise a few people. Before I do, however, I want to say how angry I was at the traffic death of the engineer Wayne Williams. Brothers and sisters, apart from the family trauma involved, do you realize how much money it costs to train an engineer? And do you know how valuable engineers are? As we live our careless and undisciplined lives in this city and this country, every now and then our carelessness and indiscipline contribute to home and community tragedies. Mr. Williams was the victim of a set of circumstances which began with a water truck (painted black) parked on the highway at night without any lights, any reflectors or anything to warn him of the obstruction until it was too late. He had to make a split second decision, and he made the wrong one.
The accident shook me up, because just a couple weeks before, a similar thing could have happened to me. I was coming down from Ladyville to Belize City. My brakes were functional, but not in tip top shape. Coming from Ladyville, there is this curve between Miles 7 and 6 which swings hard right, almost at a 90 degree angle. A large truck of some kind suddenly climbed upon the road from the left side, and was moving so slowly I went for my brakes. He was in my lane on a two-lane road, and I couldn’t stop in time. I had to make a split second decision – head into the bush on the right-hand side, or enter the lane of oncoming traffic on the left-hand side. Because of the severe curve, that traffic was coming blind. They could not see around the curve, but they have total right of way. In retrospect, I should have gone into the bush, but I took the chance of entering the lane with oncoming traffic. I’m here to tell the tale, so I got away with it. I could just as easily have become a headline in Amandala that morning.
In my opinion, Mr. Ernesto Torres (as Mr. Michael Reyes, for different reasons) has a role to play in this city, because he’s been trained in traffic. And traffic in and around Belize City is a mess. One of the sick jokes is the traffic jams every weekday morning at rush hour entering the city on the Northern Highway, traffic jams resulting from buses lining up on the side of the road to disgorge their passengers, and these passengers absolutely refusing to use the expensive pedestrian bypass constructed precisely for the purpose of allowing traffic to flow freely. See, the column is halfway written, and the grumpy old man syndrome has ruled. Enough.
My wife and I got a Christmas card from Sir Colville and Lady Norma Young, and I was pleased to see the lyrics for Sir Colville’s original composition, “Old Fashion Krismos,” featured in the card. As sung by Brad Pattico, along with, I believe, Jenny Lovell, this song has been ruling Yuletide Belize for a couple years now. Big respect to Sir Colville for this beautiful creation.
I want to congratulate Dr. Chris Bennett for his book on dentistry in Belize. You should get a copy. I’m sure you will enjoy it. All I kept thinking while reading was how strong and steady an individual Dr. Bennett is. Really, really, big respect, Dr. Chris. You are cream in the crop.
Sunday morning on Ya Ya Marin Coleman’s KREM Radio/TV Show, she had Mr. John Woods as guest. Mr. Woods is sometimes controversial, because he runs Belize’s central prison outside of Hattieville, and that has to be a tough job. Ya Ya feels that he was a bit intimidated by the idea of coming back here to controversial Kremandala, but he did it. I give Mr. Woods big respect.
I was fascinated by the story of his Maryknoll priest brother who was killed in Guatemala, somewhat similarly to the tragedy which befell the Jesuit, Jim Carney, in Honduras. Hopefully, we can get Mr. Woods to tell this story to the newspaper, so that we can have it in print.
I keep telling you that sometimes it’s difficult doing this column, because we can’t seem to achieve anything apart from airing it out. I do appreciate the fact, however, that you look forward to reading it, so on that basis alone, it is worth the effort. Today, I wish you love.