What about made in Belize

"Seven years ago Belize imported three hundred and sixty two million dollars in goods from the USA. Today that number has increased by one hundred million"

I was reading the transcript of the news this weekend and this statement jumped out and smacked me across the face. $ 462, 000, 000. 00. That's a lot!

It brought to mind an old conversation I had with my father years ago about entrepreneurship. My father taught me that entreprenuership was the key to economic success. Sure, we, as a nation, could import most anything we could ever desire. In this global village ruled by personal desire, self gratification, greed, and capitilism, the sky is the limit. Hell, for $20 million, even a flight in space is up for grabs. But when we do for ourselves, by ourselves, we improve ourselves. Which is exactly how these big countries got the point of security that they are now. {and by stealing the natural resources of other countries for hundreds of years, but I won't go down that path today}

Taking an analytical view of economic trade from Belize's standpoint, let me outline the steps to get Heinz Ketchup or Nike Air sneakers to our favorite country. First, we must buy foreign currency - at a lost, might I add. After the sales transaction, we must then ship these things to our shores, increasing our carbon footprint in the world, whilst shouldering the ever-increasing cost of fuel. After various taxes for... I don't know what, the consumer then has the joy of purchasing the item. Which may remain on the shelf for years... expire... but never ever go on sale.

Why import things that we can produce for ourselves in Belize? Self-sufficiency is the path we should walk to our development. The global market is so prone to fluxuations. When a needle falls on a sweat shop in China, we feel the reprucussions here for a long time. Making things for ourselves in our own country protects us from the global tides, that storm sometimes for reasons that economist find out only after the fact.

Buy Belizean goods... if you have a little idea for a business, start small and don't stop. Try your best. Believe in Belize and let's try to keep some of that $462, 000, 000.00 here within our own shores. America certainly doesn't need it, and we do.

Let's start a dialouge... looking forward to your comments.

More Than a Football Game

First, to the players of our national football selection: Congratulations. Thanks for another "Marion Jones Moment" for us as a nation. But maybe it was an even greater moment, considering that our players are 100% Belizeans, representing the length and breadth of our cultural diversity. And maybe it was an even greater moment because they are working men who simply love to play the game, and excel at it. Unlike their Mexican counterparts, they are not paid on a salary; they don't enjoy the world-class facilities that other players from other countries enjoy. Yet, by placing their heart on their cleats, our eleven ambassadors illustrated the difference between "impossible" and "deficient". If you listened or read the commentaries before Sunday's match, most reporters gave our players no chance of competing, much less of winning. They instead amused themselves of how many goals our opponents would score on Shane Orio. To them, our chance of success was "impossible." Of course, if you focused on statistics, such as the great disparity between Mexico (16) and Belize (172) on the FIFA rankings, you might agree that expecting a Belize loss might not be an aloof thought. Moreover, looking at the fact that we had to play our "home" game in a stadium of roaring Mexican fans, our chances of victory looked even more unlikely. Yet, our players ignored these facts, accepted their supposed "deficiencies," and made more Belizeans proud in a loss, than the Mexicans who were proud for their country's victory. (click for the FIFA.COM article entitled "Unconvincing Start For Mexico")

Finally, Belize's game against Mexico signified more than "just a game" for many of us, as it reflected a stark reality that exists in our society. Imagine, our players were essentially forced to play many miles away from Belize for their home game, just to be given a chance to compete, and complete, their fairytale journey. Doesn't this trend sound familiar? Doesn't it sound like the yearly exile that our Belizean students undergo, simply to further their education? From Asia, to America, to the Caribbean, our students travel all around the world in order to prove that the depth of their potential has no boundaries and requires no visa or passport - that their intelligence, our intelligence, is universal. This is done for the same reasons that our players were forced to play in Reliant Stadium. And the end result is the same as the final result in the game played on Sunday: We prove, that if given the opportunity, "impossible" is only a state of mind.