A time comes in your life when you finally get it…when, in the midst of all your fears and insanity, you stop dead in your tracks and somewhere the voice inside your head cries out…ENOUGH! Enough fighting and crying and blaming and struggling to hold on.

Then, like a child quieting down after a tantrum, you blink back your tears and begin to look at the world through new eyes.

This is your awakening.

You realize it’s time to stop hoping and waiting for something to change, or for happiness, safety and security to magically appear over the next horizon. You realize that in the real world there aren’t always fairy tale endings, and that any guarantee of “happily ever after” must begin with you… and in the process a sense of serenity is born of acceptance.

You awaken to the fact that you are not perfect and that not everyone will always love, appreciate or approve of who or what you are… and that’s OK. They are entitled to their own views and opinions.

You learn the importance of loving and championing yourself… and in the process a sense of new found confidence is born of self-approval. You stop complaining and blaming other people for the things they did to you – or didn’t do for you – and you learn that the only thing you can really count on is the unexpected.

You learn that people don’t always say what they mean or mean what they say and that not everyone will always be there for you and that everything isn’t always about you.

So, you learn to stand on your own and to take care of yourself… and in the process a sense of safety and security is born of self-reliance.

You stop judging and pointing fingers and you begin to accept people as they are and to overlook their shortcomings and human frailties… and in the process a sense of peace and contentment is born of forgiveness.

You learn to open up to new worlds and different points of view. You begin reassessing and redefining who you are and what you really stand for.

You learn the difference between wanting and needing and you begin to discard the doctrines and values you’ve outgrown, or should never have bought into to begin with.

You learn that there is power and glory in creating and contributing and you stop maneuvering through life merely as a “consumer” looking for your next fix.

You learn that principles such as honesty and integrity are not the outdated ideals of a bygone era, but the mortar that holds together the foundation upon which you must build a life.

You learn that you don’t know everything, it’s not your job to save the world and that you can’t teach a pig to sing. You learn that the only cross to bear is the one you choose to carry and that martyrs get burned at the stake.

Then you learn about love. You learn to look at relationships as they really are and not as you would have them be. You learn that alone does not mean lonely.

You stop trying to control people, situations and outcomes. You learn to distinguish between guilt and responsibility and the importance of setting boundaries and learning to say NO.

You also stop working so hard at putting your feelings aside, smoothing things over and ignoring your needs.

You learn that your body really is your temple. You begin to care for it and treat it with respect. You begin to eat a balanced diet, drink more water, and take more time to exercise.

You learn that being tired fuels doubt, fear, and uncertainty and so you take more time to rest. And, just as food fuels the body, laughter fuels our soul. So you take more time to laugh and to play.

You learn that, for the most part, you get in life what you believe you deserve, and that much of life truly is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

You learn that anything worth achieving is worth working for and that wishing for something to happen is different than working toward making it happen.

More importantly, you learn that in order to achieve success you need direction, discipline and perseverance. You also learn that no one can do it all alone, and that it’s OK to risk asking for help.

You learn the only thing you must truly fear is fear itself. You learn to step right into and through your fears because you know that whatever happens you can handle it and to give in to fear is to give away the right to live life on your own terms.

You learn to fight for your life and not to squander it living under a cloud of impending doom.

You learn that life isn’t always fair, you don’t always get what you think you deserve and that sometimes bad things happen to unsuspecting, good people… and you learn not to always take it personally.

You learn that nobody’s punishing you and everything isn’t always somebody’s fault. It’s just life happening. You learn to admit when you are wrong and to build bridges instead of walls.

You learn that negative feelings such as anger, envy and resentment must be understood and redirected or they will suffocate the life out of you and poison the universe that surrounds you.

You learn to be thankful and to take comfort in many of the simple things we take for granted, things that millions of people upon the earth can only dream about: a full refrigerator, clean running water, a soft warm bed, a long hot shower.

Then, you begin to take responsibility for yourself by yourself and you make yourself a promise to never betray yourself and to never, ever settle for less than your heart’s desire.

You make it a point to keep smiling, to keep trusting, and to stay open to every wonderful possibility.

You hang a wind chime outside your window so you can listen to the wind.

Finally, with courage in your heart, you take a stand, you take a deep breath, and you begin to design the life you want to live as best you can.

by Sonny Carroll

We have been blinded by political colors, favoritism and ignorance. Such is the after effects of a society that has been raised to believe anything the politician says and to stay fastened to a particular party because your forefathers did so or because you are friends or enemy to one politician or another. We must learn to see what the real deal is with people vying for seats in our legislation and ministries and make better judgment on them. We must arm ourselves with education and remove the blinds that have been placed over our eyes and start seeing in wide angles.. Far too long have we been taken for a ride, far too long have we remained ignorant, far too long have we let politicians have their way.

We are riding down a road that leads us away from democracy and freedom. If we continue on this road, pretty soon we will be faced with a system of Police State / Dictatorship / Kleptocracy. What are those you ask? Well let me give you a quick rundown..

Police State:

The term police state describes a state in which the government exercises rigid and repressive controls over the social, economic and political life of the population. A police state typically exhibits elements of totalitarianism and social control, and there is usually little or no distinction between the law and the exercise of political power by the executive.

The inhabitants of a police state experience restrictions on their mobility, and on their freedom to express or communicate political or other views, which are subject to police monitoring or enforcement. Political control may be exerted by means of a secret police force which operates outside the boundaries normally imposed by a constitutional state.

Dictatorship:

A dictatorship is defined as an autocratic form of government in which the government is ruled by an individual, the dictator.  For some scholars, dictatorship is a form of government that has the power to govern without consent of those being governed (similar to authoritarianism), while totalitarianism  describes a state that regulates nearly every aspect of public and private behavior of the people. In other words, dictatorship concerns the source of the governing power (where the power comes from) and totalitarianism concerns the scope of the governing power (what is the government). In this sense, dictatorship (government without people’s consent) is a contrast to democracy (government whose power comes from people) and totalitarianism (government controls every aspect of people’s life) opposes pluralism  (government allows multiple lifestyles and opinions). Though the definitions of the terms differ, they are related in reality as most of the dictatorship states tend to show totalitarian characteristics. When governments’ power does not come from the people, their power is not limited and tend to expand their scope of power to control every aspect of people’s life.

Kleptocracy:

Kleptocracy, alternatively cleptocracy or kleptarchy, from Greek: κλέπτης (thieve) and κράτος (rule), is a term applied to a government that takes advantage of governmental corruption to extend the personal wealth and political power of government officials and the ruling class (collectively, kleptocrats), via the embezzlement  of state funds at the expense of the wider population, sometimes without even the pretense of honest service. The term means “rule by thieves”. Not an “official” form of government (such as democracy, republic, monarchy, theocracy) the term is a pejorative for governments perceived to have a particularly severe and systemic problem with the selfish misappropriation of public funds by those in power.

Like our famous Lauren Da Mawning used to seh.. Open yuh eyes, open yuh eyes da which cheese yuh think yuh mi di eat all diw while? Taste ah man taste ah…

Some have opened their eyes and tasted the cheese, and it is bitter..  Open your eyes and taste it for your self.

A good read is Rat in Mi Kitchen by Lisa Shoman

One People, One Destiny!

Today as I stand here against the graffiti painted wall in the heat of the midday sun, I realize what has me standing here; a lost soul, a lonely person yearning for something I will not attain. I realize that my mother had to live and work her last bit of energy for me and my family, to provide us with an education that I should have taken serious. The many advises to make something of myself so I would not regret it later on. I chose not to follow, I chose to go my way.

Now I stare in the eyes of death as a black car rolls by with a gun in the window ready to fire, I think at me. I take a deep breath and prepare myself for the worst. It is amazing how a second can feel like hours when you’re on the spot. I see my life, my doings, flash before me. I see what I could have been, what I should have been; that dream I had of being a person that everybody admired as a child, it stops in front of me only to say “I’m sorry my friend, good-bye.” It is now that I see my mom did not make my life difficult, she did not want this for me; I did this to myself. All the years growing up when my dad wasn’t there to explain life to me and my mom was preoccupied with my siblings. I see now. It must be hard trying to raise a rebel while keeping everything in check. I heard my mom cry many nights about why life has to be so hard, why is it that she was stuck with trying to make ends meet and always falling short by an inch, why she was alone trying to make a family in a no win situation.

I now know it was all for my good for me not to end up like this. Here I am an uneducated 15 year old kid, soon to be staring down the barrel of a loaded gun, no future, no goals in life. I stare at the car thinking what it would have been like if I was still in school, how could it happen thou? Mom was struggling; I would have ended up out of school to find a job to help her with the bills.

I asked my mom several times for my dad but she said he could not take it anymore. Living in poverty, not being able to provide us a life and keep some money for him. He got selfish, times were rough for them. He would take the frustration out on my mom. One day he left us all alone. My dad, you see, worked for the city council as a garbage truck driver. He got paid just enough for him to pay the bills. My mom worked too to send us to school but even with both pays we did not have enough. After the layoffs was when things got worst. I heard my mom cry at nights after my dad beat her up. She would make breakfast for us early and then lock herself in her room before we awoke for the rest of the day. After he left us mom had to find a way to survive. The beatings stop and mom was much happier but she still lived in sadness; we still barely got to see her with all the work. We had to sell food my mom made, walk all around town until we sold all.

Mom always tried to make our lives better, but being single, could not. Now at 15 I realize I was supposed to be the man of the house after dad left. Now I realize where I should be. My life now is apparently about to end. All of this because of our rich people and the Government officials, filling their pockets and the pockets of their cronies as they say. All this because they want to get ahead but don’t think about people like my mom or the children. No opportunities for a family like mine or for people like me. Others scorn me as they walk by, as if I were a disease of some sort. I can hear my mom crying for me, her first son dying before he could enjoy what he was supposed to, before he became a man or had the chance to regret what he did to himself.

The bullet zooms past me, it misses, I hit the floor and after a second, I started to run but did not know where to go. My mind took over and all I could do was run back home. I told mom sorry for all I did and even though I did not expect a positive reply I was hoping for one. I got the biggest welcome from my mom, even bigger that when I used to come home from school. I am now in school again with a part time job helping moms with the bills and my siblings. I spoke to my dad last week, told him what happened and how we were living. He is working again and has changed his life around, he plans to come home soon if mom accepts him. I know she will, I can still see the love in her eyes.

As for the other people out there like my family and me. I pray for them. I hope that they do not have to walk the road I walked. I hope the Government will see what is happening in our society, what must be done. They need to start pay attention to the society.

I pray to the lord almighty that there will be a change in the way our country is run. Let it be for all and not for one.

Thanks to all who read and appreciate my story and I hope it make a difference in the hearts of many adults and youths on the streets today.

It all started back in the colonial days when our fore fathers tried to get their political freedom from the motherland. While we were surviving on our own, we were getting orders from the base in Jamaica. After many years of struggling with trying to be free from this system, they got semi-independent by having little councils and town boards that were controlled by the wealthy or someone who had a certain amount of land, which was not easily obtained without money.

The struggle went on for years, until on day Mr. George C. Price decided he had enough of seeing his Belizean brothers and sisters working like slaves for a penny here and there; he had a dream . Words crossed, people gathered and the decision was made; they would follow him and the dream would become a reality. This dream was to have a better life, a better society, better homes and above all, full independence. Our little country has come a long way since then, Independence in 1981; some parts of the dream have realized themselves. Unfortunately so have the people that followed in his footsteps, the politicians.

The problem here is that while everything was moving forward the real dream remained with the time when it was conceived. These days corruption has taken the empty spot where the dream existed. There was only one other man that fully comprehended the dream and saw it, but he could not see the society, the people or the environment. This was none other than the late Hon. Philip S.W. Goldson, a blind soul that really wanted to take the torch and light it again. His vision was struck down because it was an anti-corruption way of being. He was later to be booted out of his party that he started alongside Dean Lido for their beliefs and honesty to the people. So far there has only been a handful of people that have really gotten politics right and did the job the people put them there. These people are being left in the shadows of corruption and the people’s ignorance.

We need to feel this dream again, hold it in our hands, see it, and live it. We have to stop these people with dreams of getting rich and manipulating us for theirs and their cronies pockets. We need a party to get us to live the dream, a better society, a better economy, equality, justice, more and better jobs. We need a government that will not be afraid to accept their wrong, take our opinions, understand that our needs are what the real issues are based on, not theirs or their thought of what we need, we need a government that lives in the light and not in the shadows, remember what happens in the darkness one day will be brought into light. Our current politicians are a bunch of Hoodlums, and squandering thieves that do nothing more than take advantage of a society of peaceful loving people that allows them the freedom to make whatever decision they want without regard to the effects they have on our society, economy and ultimately our future survival.

While these players sit in their offices alongside their cronies, conjuring what trick they will play on us next so they can rob us of our tax money that should be used to better our economy, our society and our children’s futures. While we take a beating trying to survive day by day, trying to pay the bills, feed the family, keeping the kids in school, trying to provide them a decent life and home; all while keeping within the spending limit of a minimum wage pay.

If we would only realize that we hold their fates in our hands, we can make change happen instead of waiting until the UDP or PUP decide to help us. We as a society need to make some sacrifices for ourselves and for the future, learn to see your neighbor as a brother or sister. We need to start using the extended family system like we did back in the day when the community took pride in themselves and helped each other when they could and was always looking out for the children so they could grow up to be positive members of society.

Government should heed our warnings. They need to find the dream, take it in and start to live it. They need to remove corruption from their agenda, stop filling their cronies pockets so they in turn call fill theirs. Belize and the opportunities are for all Belizeans not just yours and your cronies. Hold out your hand and help the common Belizean to help them selves. They need to learn to co-exist with the common Belizean not just around election time but on a day to day basis, we need to know that you are involved in your communities and are one with your people.

Bring back the dream….

It seems that recently a lot of weird messages are being sent to people’s friends from random accounts.. This is more than likely the result of an app that you have installed or updated recently.

Whenever you accept an app you are  basically signing your rights and all your information to the creator and you give them rights to full access to your account. By doing that anyone with bad intentions can use your account to send spam, viruses, pharming bugs and whatever else they can devise.

Been receiving messages or posts from your friends asking you what the hell you’re smoking? or Why are you sending out crazy messages?

Well you caught what I call facebook AIDS (FB-AIDS)..

Ok, so you think you got the FB-AIDS, well we can offer some help in the form of 2 simple lines..

1. Ensure that you read the fine prints when using applications, that is where they get you with the little nasty things. Seriously, how many people actually spend that time to read them, the bad guys know this and they use it against you.

2. Change your passwords regularly… I can’t stress this enough, it is very important and we all fail at keeping this a part of our online routine. Please start today… For more info on passwords you can read this page

If you have more tips you want to share, make a note for others to read.

• Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.
• A conscience is what hurts when all of your other parts feel so good.
• Junk is something you’ve kept for years and throw away three weeks before you need it.
• By the time you can make ends meet, they move the ends.
• Thou shalt not weigh more than thy refrigerator.
• It ain’t the jeans that make your butt look fat.
• People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them.
• You should not confuse your career with your life.
• Never lick a steak knife.
• You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests that you think she’s pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment.
• Your friends love you just the way you are.
• The most destructive force in the universe is gossip.

I found some new ones @ https://www.msu.edu/~jerrymc/humor/advice.html

• Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.
• Marry a man/woman you love to talk to. As you get older, their conversational skills will be as important as any other.
• Never laugh at anyone’s dreams. People who don’t have dreams don’t have much.
• Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it’s the only way to live life completely.
• Don’t judge people by their relatives.
• Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your voice.