CRIME

ON PAPER

            We were given the opportunity to look at a Belize newspaper. Flipping through the pages filled me with an uneasy feeling. The story on the front page read “Jealous Husband Murders Wife.” Other stories continued with the theme of death, drugs, human trafficking, and other tragedy. A local woman burnt down a building with children by smoking pot outside. Another woman gave her daughter to an American in hopes that she would receive everything she could ever want and everything that she wouldn’t be able to provide her with. After a few days of an amazing life, her daughter was forced into sex trafficking. By no means do I think that the United States is crime free, but it was all still disheartening how much crime was there.

ON THE STREET

            As we rode our bus to dinner we were taking in as much of Belize as we could, just looking out the window at the passing buildings and people. We would stick our cameras out the windows and snap as many photos as possible, so we could keep these days with us forever. Our bus then came to a sudden stop. We saw a big crowd gathering on the street. A police truck pulled up in front of us. A man was trying to knife a woman. The police officers pulled him away. The man broke free from their grasp and chased the woman to the ground. Again the officers pulled him away, this time loading him into a police bus. All I could think was, was it really so bad that they needed police trucks and buses instead of cars?

ON THE FRONT PORCH

When I woke up, I grabbed my toothbrush and headed to the bathroom. Skip caught me on the way and redirected me to the front porch. That night someone had snuck up onto the front porch and stole our shoes that we left out to dry from a day’s work in the mud. Ten people’s shoes were gone.

CONCLUSION

            My old tennis shoes just went to someone who probably needs them much more than me. They left six pairs of shoes, which mean they might have only taken what they really need. Plus I will be able to embrace the culture and work in flip flops like some of the people of Belize do.  Bad things can have a positive influence on those that experience them. I realized how to be positive in a negative situation and that is something that I hope I take back with me to the United States. The crime in Belize probably isn’t as bad as I have interpreted, I just don’t know how to handle it. In any area there are precautions that must be taken. The gate to where we were staying was left unlocked. All that needed to be done to prevent theft from the porch was to lock the gate. I was being judgmental and really had no right to be.