It’s Sunday. A day of tradition for many…church…Sunday dinner…family time. What are you doing today? I’m looking out my window at some gorgeous fresh snow on the ground.  We still have not gotten the  “up to your knees kind’, but there’s still enough to inspire a sense of calm and peace. I wish I could send that feeling of serenity to you, out there, with fettered hearts and buried souls.

There is a bubbling tension and the rising stench of animosity in the Facebook world. There is a growing tendency for some to measure their good works against the perceived failings of others, coupled with derisive criticism of what is deemed apathy or lack of true loyalty to Belize. That is so mean spirited and self glorifying and divisive. I don’t understand why people feel the need to put down others. It’s like taking a big stick and whopping it across someone’s face. It’s humiliating and violent and most of all, useless and unnecessary. Most people are inherently good and want to feel appreciated and needed. Most of us would love to work for a cause and feel pride in our efforts. Our problem is, we have no one we admire enough to follow, no entity trustworthy and deserving of our deference.

Not everybody can be leaders. Not everyone wants be to a leader. So why does it seem that Belizean leaders get on their over inflated egos, like some big old BULLFROG and spit in the eyes of those who would want to follow them? You “leaders” out there, why insult others because they won’t, can’t do as you do? Do you really want the competition? Think about that for a second. You really want a bunch of leaders and no followers? You need somebody to lead, right?

Just because someone is not like you, doesn’t make him/her weak, inferior or less committed (*insert cuss word here). And not all of us can work tirelessly and with intense dedication at the same time that you might be. Not all of us have the same kind of intelligence or gifts. Nothing angers me more than when someone who is obviously exceptional in some way, uses it to thump others on the head. Don’t you understand it is an accident of birth? It is due to thousand of years of evolution and tireless culling of our genetic fiber that created you? You don’t belong to just you. You belong to every single human being who contributed to your particular DNA. In that way, you have every obligation to use your talents, your gifts towards the betterance of humanity.

So, instead of touting your good deeds, puffing out your chest like a BULLFROG, and decrying the lack of reward or recognition, understand that you are always part of something larger. In other words, get over yourself and get to work. And you, out there, who will benefit from the brilliant work of these exceptional people, do not mock them when they stumble. Do not lose faith when they make a wrong turn. We will make mistakes all of us, but, the failure is not the one who tried and failed. The failure is the one who never tried at all.