Children in the Caribbean (and the world): innocent enthusiasm

Recently I have been listening, reading and experiencing some inspirational and motivational teachings. This started around 2006 when I was feeling a bit down and lost. almost ten years later, I am still learning. But the difference is that now I understand all the teachings much better. and by teachings I mean everything, From motivational speakers to the Bible to Zen. I lay my hands on anything I can get.
What I found was that there is a thread that holds all these different teachings together. It is that you yourself are the architect of your life. The most important thing/tool you have are your thoughts. And envisioning things is key. Whether positive or negative, whatever you envision will in some way come true.
So what has all this to do with the Caribbean you ask? Listening to a motivational podcast I remembered a story about this kid (who is an adult now with children of his own), which is a 'textbook" case of all what I have encountered and learned.

The Caribbean, just like any place in the world, can be challenging for kids to grow up in. There are many things holding us back: poverty, abuse, discrimination etc. etc. I myself have experienced some of it, but my problems fade away compared to the story I am about to share.

When I was little there was a boy living in my neighborhood. He was about 2 years younger than me. He came from a very humble background, raised by a single mother. They lived on "welfare" and were considered poor. Having the Dutch education system on Aruba, where background does not play a big role, we visited the same elementary school. There I remember this kid went through a rough time. He was bullied by both the other children and the teachers. At the time I did not realize it was bullying, but thought it was quite funny. Also in the neighborhood, he was looked down on and bullied. I'll spare you the details, but it resulted him transferring to another school. Later I understood that there he flourished and became a good student.
Apart from knowing him from school, we became kind of neighborhood friends. He would come to our house to play, and eventually he came every day. My mother especially took him under her wing, as she saw potential in him and felt a great deal of compassion. Being little myself, I was not able to understand and became quite jealous of this. Nevertheless, we became friends and this relationship lasted for a few years, until he turned about 12 and one of his relatives took him under their wing. In a nutshell, back then he was considered to not amount to much in life.

The remarkable thing that stuck with me was that he always had great visions for himself. For example he explained to us how he dealt with aggressive dogs attacking him when walking through the fields to get to our house. He would sit down and imagined he was Bruce Lee, and then looked at the dogs and say: "Come and get it". The dogs would growl and bark, but not attack him anymore. Back then we just laughed at this, but now 27 years later....I understand the power of what he at age 9 did. But the most powerful and amazing thing he did, what convinced me that positive thinking, your thoughts and envisioning can do, was how he played.
In a field next to our house there was a little junkyard with large construction trucks. He would sit in those trucks almost everyday and image himself driving them and working. Some days we could hear him playing in the trucks and envisioning himself as a real truck driver.

After he changed schools and went on to spend more time with his relatives, we kind of lost touch. about 3 years ago I found him back on Facebook and also saw articles about him in the local newspaper. And this is the amazing part. He is actually now working with large trucks in a leadership position. I often see articles about him fighting for his organization and getting things accomplished for his people. And I think people now around him have a great image and appreciation for him. If I compare this to when he was 8-9 years old....I think back then no one would have believed that this would or could be his future. Some of the kids who bullied him, are actually less successful than him. I wonder what his elementary school teachers think of this if they realize.

So what I am trying to say in this piece is that no matter where you are from, your background or situation. With the right attitude and thoughts, you can achieve a lot. Of course you will need some help from now and again, but believe me, this help is also a result of your thinking. So to all kids in the Caribbean (also the rest of the world): don't let your surroundings and circumstances hold you back. Be brave, keep dreaming and recognize help when it reaches you. The world can be quite forgiving and compassionate. I have learned through some hard times as well, and now look at children in a whole other way.....great potential and innocent enthusiasm....

What's a Carib to do?

Being born and raised in the Caribbean has given me a certain foundation for the person that I am now: psychologically, culturally, socially and so on. The interesting thing is that in the Caribbean you have access to many influences from all over the world. In my case in the 80's & 90's we had strong influences from both the USA and Venezuela. Of course there have been other countries and cultures, but these two I consider the dominant ones. In my case having a European mother did provide me with a third pillar of foreign influence next to the US and Venezuela. Even by being an Island part of the Dutch Kingdom, other than the education system, there was not much Dutch influence. We can see the results now, where most youngsters prefer English as a second language and hardly dominate Dutch. During the FIFA World cup it is very obvious. Less than 40% of the Inhabitants root for the Dutch National team.
To get back on topic. Currently I am living in The Netherlands, Europe, and there is a lot happening. The Crimea, Venezuela protests, Financial institutions that lost our trust, ecological problems, racism in politics etc. etc. Very negative. There are positive things as well, but unfortunately the media tends to focus a lot on the negative news (its a cliché, but I perceive it as such). As I get older (and wiser hahaha) I tend to reach back more and more to my Caribbean roots and look for comfort and solace to cope with daily life. Especially now that I have a family to take care of. (What values do I give my daughter?) Increasingly, I feel that also in the Caribbean we are becoming to westernized and adopt the bad practices of the old "mother countries" and larger "super powers". This is weakening the very thing I want to fall back on.

Local Marketplace in San Cristobal de Las Casas
during my Chiapas visit

working in tourism I always find it funny to see how certain people are proud of the fact that they tend to choose "original" destinations. Not yet tainted by western developement. Mostly these are (to western standards) underdeveloped countries where the people still live like they used to for the past say 100 years, and everything is cheap. Do they think these people chose this life? Not all of them, there are regions where they have, but these are then often called dangerous. Because they are considered rebels or dangerous outlaws. I remember visiting the province of Chiapas in Mexico. One of the most beautiful places on earth (in my opinion), but hardly any tourists. Even though they offer a whole lot. I got the feeling that the locals, especially from Mayan decent, did choose their current lifestyle. but when doing research they are considered dangerous by mainstream media. Just because they (mostly simple farmers) stood up against the big boys and re-claimed their lifestyle (chiapas conflict). So where are all these tourists looking for the "original experiential vacation". People don't be fooled by the media. And not even by this blog if you will. Find out for yourself. All I can say is that this blogpost comes from the heart, and it is up to you to do with it what you want.
What does this have to do with the Caribbean? Well, there are Islands trying their very best to maintain alifestyle that differs from the developed west, and others go the other way. I will be very open and honest here. I work in tourism and live off the developments in the Caribbean that one can argue are good or bad. So if I were to say I am this rebel propagating a return to original values, development of the region and a break with the west, would be hipocritical. Nevertheless, I am growing concerned with how things are developing and it is though making the right choices. For example, I have invested in a condo somewhere in the Caribbean. However, some questions keep haunting me. Was the land where the project is built on purchased in an honest way? The Builders (mostly from a much poorer Island), are they being treated fair? Will I take part of living in a bubble and turn my head from the much needed help on the other side of the fence? Therefore my daily question is: what am I doing to provide a positive contribution?
There are many other things on various Islands that I don't agree with or that anger/sadden me. But also a lot of beautiful and really good things. Maybe I worry too much, but unlike I posted earlier (Do not succumb to stress), I am unable to let worries of the present situation and therefore the future go.

Therefore the title for this blogpost, What's a Carib to do?

Trying to keep the overview (on life)