October 1, 2008
Dear Editor,
“Fraidah” means someone who is afraid to speak up, to stand up, to stick his/her neck out!
“Fraidah” Belizeans! Stop being Fraidah and stick your neck out! Nothing wrong to stick your neck out!
I am writing because more and more I run into people who are “fraidah.” They would usually say, ”I want tell you something but I do not want anyone to know that I told you this or that.” You see the same trend in the newspapers’ letters to the editor with signatures “name withheld”. And then here is the killer: you want things to go quiet on KREM? Let Mose start talking about the Guatemalan claim— well even more the lines get dead. I believe the reason for that is because Government is still the biggest employer and people are just so “fraidah” that they are afraid to stick their necks out and take a stand.
In this week’s Amandala, we have a student who I believe is a young Belizean and a professor who could be another Belizean, both from UB, our national university. UB is where our cream is supposed to come from, and none of the two had what it takes to put their names out there. Now can you please explain to me why so much of our people are “Fraidah”? Afraid of what?
When I ask the question, “Afraid of what?,” I get the silly answer that “well, you know, I got bills to pay”. Well, everyone of us has bills to pay and just because you have bills to pay, does that mean that you will not have freedom of speech? Does that mean that you will live in fear all your life? How many people have been fired because they spoke up? We Belizeans need to free up our minds and get with the program because if we don’t and just be a country of Fraidahs, then we are doomed as a nation. Belizeans need to remember that we are now grown: Belize is 27 years old!!!
One of the reasons why we are where we are and suffering is because we are a nation of “Fraidahs”. I hope that people would take a stand and realize the amount of power we the people have if we are not “Fraidahs”. Remember when we had that demonstration in Belmopan last year against the UHS bill? Look at that small crowd —less than 3 thousand, which is less than one percent of the country’s population. And look what those people who demonstrated did, look what they achieved!. They stuck their necks out. They were no fraidahs and look what happened! The bill was withdrawn. Today everyone benefits because of that demonstration. Imagine if we had five percent or ten percent! Could you imagine what we as a people and country could achieve?
My point here is if we stop being sissies and fraidahs then we can do a whole lot for our country. Could you imagine if ten percent of this nation joined Citizens Organized for Liberty through Action (COLA), what power we would have? COLA is not political! We would be a much better country; people would stop “chancing us” because they would get the sense and know that we are not a country of “Fraidahs”. As a result we would all be better off! So my people stop!
Take a deep breath and come out! Stop being “Fraidah”: first step could be to join COLA.
Wil Maheia
President
COLA Toledo Branch