Closer to home…

By: Mike Rudon Jr.

I’ve been out of work for the past two weeks, a sort of ‘forced vacation’ if you will, and that time provided me the opportunity to think a lot about a lot of things. Already cursed with a mind that won’t easily shut down and makes me a borderline insomniac, I was these past weeks cursed with the time to allow my mind to wander freely, and that it did. And yeah, as much as I detest the type of politics currently in play in our small country, I am a political animal at heart, so much of what I thought about centered on those damned fools running this country, led by a brilliant megalomaniac incompetent who appears morally and ethically challenged. Aw hell, let’s be real – the nation is being led by an idiot whose eloquent ramblings amount to just so much crap and a whole bunch of stupid ministers who wouldn’t know good governance if it bit them on the butt.

I just had to get that out of the way, but it’s not what this is about. See, politics is important and all that but there are many more things of much greater importance. This Sunday I went to mass in Burrell Boom (yes, smirk you heathens, I’m trying to change my evil ways) and something struck me in the priest’s homily. He was giving a report on the past week’s collection which, like the collections in weeks back, was being sent to Haiti to help the recovery effort in the wake of last month’s massive earthquake which devastated the nation. As I understand it, the Catholic Church is doing the same with collections across the country.

As it often does, my mind started wandering in the middle of mass (sorry, Father) and I remembered that the Red Cross had collected an amazing $350,000 in just the week or two after the disaster. Across this nation individuals and organizations cooperated in a massive and perhaps unprecedented outpouring of support for our brothers and sisters in Haiti. From small individual donations of $1 up to larger corporate donations, our people showed heart and compassion and gave freely. It is a gesture even more poignant and meaningful because we as a nation are going through the worst times in recent memory and have precious little extra to give. But give we did. As I did in a previous column, I salute all who reached deep and helped a little or a lot.

But yeah, okay fine, but how about those right here at home who are in dire need of assistance? How about those right around the corner from us, or down the street who need some of that same heart and compassion which we poured out so selflessly to those in Haiti. See, I remembered that right around the time we were reaching deep into our pockets for Haiti there was this guy called Jose Cruz who needed $15,000 for urgent surgery or his limbs would have to be amputated. Somehow he couldn’t seem to be able to raise that little bit of money. In fact, I believe some of his fingers were amputated before some decent soul or souls came up with the $15,000 he so desperately needed.

And there are many stories like this right in our neck of the woods – heartbreaking and real stories of our Belizean brothers and sisters who have nowhere else to turn. There’s the vibrant youth who jumped in the river and broke his neck and will now face a lifetime of paralysis; the 7-year old girl who was the innocent victim of gun violence on our streets; the little boy who suffers from a rare disease and needs urgent medical attention; the single mother of six whose home and all her possessions were consumed by fire; the homeless man with his hand outstretched on nearly every major street in downtown Belize; the hungry and the impoverished. These are real social crises which are in our faces each and every day – as real as any disaster natural or manmade.

Hell, I’m not saying that we should empty our pockets for every Belizean who is going through a little difficulty or needs a little handout to pay off that overdue cable bill or some weekend change to splurge on the next drinking or drug binge. We see that everyday too. But can’t we do something about the REAL tragedies which exist in our midst. Can’t we form an organization or something to vet these cases and organize some help for our own? Something? Anything?

Don’t get me wrong here, all you people who are shaking your heads because you misinterpreted what I wrote and think I’m against helping those in Haiti. Hell, I contributed my lee two cents too. But I’m just saying that if we can open our hearts and pockets for those far away in Haiti, then we should do the same each and every day for those much closer to home.

In mass when I heard that my little collection money and that from the other parishioners would be sent to Haiti to help in the recovery efforts, I felt good about it. But there is an aging nurse and midwife who lives in Burrell Boom who is struggling with the deadly effects of cancer. She has given decades of her life in service to Belizeans in communities across the country and in her home of Burrell Boom. She is in need of help. I would have felt very, very good if that collection money would have gone to help her instead. That’s all I’m saying.

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