When I was a sea boy on land, sometimes I dreamt of sharks, but when I went to sea, I completely forgot about them. There are some waters in the world where sharks are notorious, but it’s uncommon for them to bother people in Belize, the few incidents reported almost exclusively involving spearfishing. They say there was a time when those bohgaz were getting upstart, until some observant person discovered their fear of the word, “panades.” Ever since, we know what to holler before taking a dip.

This glorious weather on Tuesday this week got me thinking water, even though most of us tropical folk don’t go for swimming this time of year. It’s when I’m on land that I have fear of water. It entered my mind that I still haven’t taught my two grandkids how to swim.

I don’t know how my maternal grampa taught the art of swimming, but my paternal grampa was all old school with his boys. He just grabbed them by the waist band of their shorts, tossed them into the sea, and shouted: Make yourself a man, or die trying.

I learned to swim much the same way I learned to ride a bike. My brother, Chilor, took me to Bolton Bridge, held my grampa’s old chaser steady while I got on it, and after a confidence boost, he let me go. Talking riding, just for Kwame Scott and those bike hounds, I hope that everything keeps on course so they can have the famous Krem Classic. I don’t have much passion for biking, though I get very anxious when a Belizean isn’t leading the race.

Going back to swimming, when I was about five, one of my brothers put his palms under my belly and told me to make strokes with my arms and kick the water with my feet, and then he moved his palms aaaand I was off, a swimmer forever, but not yet qualified to take care of anyone but myself.

Talking fear of water, when he was a boy my younger brother had a friend, and one day he was devastated by the news that his friend had drowned. His friend was at a swimming pool with some other boys, and they playfully held him underwater, and when they let him go he was dead. I have a cousin who drowned. I never met him, but I cried when he died, on losing him and for his mother, whom I was close to when I was growing up.

I’ve told you about my time working with kids in the village where I live, my terrible stress when I took them swimming in the sea and the lagoon. No sergeant major could draw up a better game plan than I had. I divided my 60 or 70 kids into groups; each group had a senior to watch over them, and I marched up and down the beach, watched them all like a hawk till everyone was back on terra firma. I’ve never taken a group to the river, and part of that might have to do with how much my mom drilled me about its dangers.

I have yet to hear of a government body taking steps to educate Belizeans so that we cut down massively on tragedies in water. I’ve thrown out a few ideas over the years, but we need a body, maybe like our Coast Guard, to get in on the education. It’s far more of an issue at rivers, but a number of tourists have drowned at sea.

A lot of people can swim, but only enough to take care of themselves. You need a lot of experience and physical conditioning to be of assistance to someone who is struggling in the water. In my youth, I’ve been Johnny on the spot for quite a few boys who needed help, and those events might be behind my exacerbated concern. I’m a very nervous guy when I hear of inexperienced folk overseeing children and novices in/around water. I can’t help it.

You understand the risks when people are going about earning a living, but swimming in the sea and the lagoon and in the river on a fun day shouldn’t end up in pain. Accidents will happen, but these tragedies are too common. The education should start from now. Some organization has to be charged with the responsibility of making recreational swimming safe.

Barrow and Fonseca brought to mind

Listening to Auditor General Dorothy Bradley on Wednesday morning — I regret I couldn’t give her undivided attention, but I got the substance — reminded me of a piece I promised to write…look, we all have our opinions about things, so don’t accuse me of presumption. Yap, we all have something to share, and that thing I wanted to say was in a piece titled, “Mas o menos, who was worse for Belize: Fonseca (Ralph) or Barrow (Dean).”

There’s a big story there, huge, and there are people who can say a lot more about it than I can. There are people who still dote on Ralph, and Dean is like some kind of saint in the UDP. Nobody is all bad, and those men have a lot of credentials and achievements. I say that, and I mean that. But we didn’t hire them for their baggage. That’s a big problem in our country. Our leaders bring their baggage, and shut their ears so they don’t hear when we complain about it.

Was it Dean Barrow who said he didn’t read Belize’s newspapers? I bet Ralph didn’t either. I never graduated to electoral politics, but I know enough to know that any leader who shuts out the opinions and criticisms of their people isn’t about serving. On hearing such a comment, the famous Caliph of Baghdad, Harun al-Rashid, would have said, oh no, that won’t do for good leadership.

An elected leader definitely will experience time issues. A politician, as aspirant, has all the time in the world to meet and greet, and chat with everyone who comes knocking, but when a politician wins, they’ll be consumed by the job. It’s obvious they won’t be able to find the time to do the people’s work if they have to attend to us individually.

But a person in a leadership position can’t turn a deaf ear to criticism. If they do, they have entered the world of supreme arrogance. Sure, a political leader can’t read all the newspapers and listen to all the talk shows and hear out all their constituents. That’s why they should keep strong, honest people around them, not only sycophants who are for the times when a weak political leader needs to have their delicate, fat ego buttered.

Those in leadership positions need to be more like Harun. From Tales of the Arabian Nights we get the story that he used to disguise himself, make himself look like regular folk, and he’d go out at dusk to mingle with his people, to hear what was on their mind. The leader who doesn’t have time to meet with the guys sweeping the drains and the girls at the market, to hear their views, needs to have people around them who will make the rounds and keep them abreast of all that’s going on in the nation. That’s the only way to stay in touch with the pulse of the people.

My understanding of Ralph was that only brownnosers were in his entourage, and Barrow, for the ego trip of winning elections, he watched his people corrupt every sacred institution in our country.

Hn, now why did I get bex with those two guys? Ah, I was listening to Mrs. Bradley give our country a terrible grade for its lack of transparency and accountability. It’s Krismos. I said those brothers have some big points too.