Some people say that the very big people on the planet have been working towards a one world government. We don’t know about that, but we know that about 20 or 25 years ago, the “experts” began to say that nationalism was dead, that everything was interdependent, above all, and so on and so forth.
In our part of the world, the “experts” are usually Americans, who are the professors in the universities where we send many of our young citizens to study. In fact, Americans have been prominent as priests and nuns in our primary and secondary school educational system for more than a century.
A lot of the experts pushing the “death of nationalism” idea were Americans, but if you looked closely, you could see that there was a giveaway. The giveaway was whenever the Americans competed in sports, because their national pride and patriotism were manifest for all the world to see. They wore their nationalism on their sleeves when their young men and young women competed with the rest of the world. Meanwhile, in their lecture halls and auditoriums, in their books and on the Internet, on radio and television, they were saying that nationalism was dead.
If Belize is to survive and thrive as a nation, then we must insist on thinking for ourselves, Belizeans. Perhaps you do not realize it, but there is no guarantee that Belize will survive and thrive.
The intangibles involved with nationhood are so important. There is a flavor to nationhood which seasons the speech and the stride and the being of a citizen. We Belizeans arrived late on the nationhood stage, and we have a lot to learn.
On Saturday night in Cuscutlan Stadium in El Salvador, the home team’s Eliseo Quintanilla “wrong cornered” the Mexican portero in the closing minutes of a World Cup qualifier between the two republics . Quintanilla’s penalty kick gave Salvador a 2-1 victory over the much higher ranked Mexico, and sent not only the stadium, but the whole nation of Salvador into euphoria.
The previous Wednesday night in San Jose, the Costa Rican people had experienced a similar ecstasy when their team defeated the mighty United States of America, 3-1, in another qualifier for South Africa 2010.
In Belize (previously British Honduras), we used to experience those types of moments when our Ludwig Lightburn fought in Madison Square Garden in the 1950’s, when our softball girls won gold in Santo Domingo in 1974 and defeated the United States in 1978, when our Kirk Smith played in the NCAA Sweet Sixteen in the 1990’s, when our Belizean American youth, Milton Palacio, played in the NBA.
In Belize today, we are all obsessed with wealth, even though health is more important. Younger citizens take that health for granted, and zero in on wealth. In order to achieve that wealth, many of our citizens have developed a corruption mentality. We are willing to betray our nation, to endanger and compromise our fellow citizens, in order to accumulate personal wealth.
In our editorial in last weekend’s issue, we raised the issue of the absence of nationalism, because while there is a lot of wealth being generated in Belize, that wealth is leaving the country. The wealth is not being used to create opportunities for those at the base of the national pyramid.
The talent of Belize is at the base of the pyramid. It is only the wealth which is at the apex. Belize needs for some more of its wealth to find its way down to the base. All of us in Belize would benefit from such a process, even those with the wealth. The wealthy who cast their bread upon the water, so to speak, would then sometimes experience San Jose on Wednesday night and San Salvador on Saturday night. Such are rare experiences, much to be treasured.
Power to the people.