freshwaterpearls

Belizean Word for the Day: Potlicker!!

Belizean culture is very different to English culture when it comes it animals. Animals generally serve a purpose here, guard dog, hunting dog etc etc. People do not really have too much affection for them. Most dogs are kept outside, chained up or loose. Some of the animals look really maltreated but when you can hardly feed yourself how can you feed a dog too? I got the dogs off of a friend. He got them from the humane society as puppies. He had to leave and so needed someone to look after them, so I volunteered. I got sick and had to go home so the dogs were left at the farm where I work, I came back and it looked like they hadn't been fed. People think i'm soft because I couldn't bear to have them at the farm anymore, and the thought of taking them back to the humane society where they would get put down... well it wasn't an option for me. To cut a long story short they are now living in my yard, which is getting more and more like an animal shelter now with these 2 dogs and my 2 cats. Animals are living things, if you are going to make an animal dependant on you its a big commitment and it is not fair to leave the animal half way through. I can understand the culture here a bit more now and I get embarassed when I see pictures of dogs dressed up with diamonte collars and expensive suits. With so much poverty in the world couldn't that money be better spent? I love animals but sometimes I think people can be over the top in the way they treat them.

How to know if your dog is a potlicker;
It eats leftovers
It is a mix breed
It is skinny (maaga)
It eats anything from watermelon to pampers
It sleeps in the street and digs itself a little hole to lie in
It has a lot of puppies
It likes to spread garbage all over the yard
It spends its day roaming the streets but always comes home at night

My pups are pure bred potlickers, and I love them to bits. They took me on a walk around the field last night and went crazy, acting like real kids, yet every minute or so they would look around just to check that I am ok. They aren't pure bred 'posh' dogs like bulldog or german shepard but that doesnt matter to me. I do get some funny looks though. Here people are so concerned about what people think of them. Walking a potlicker is laughed at. People are ashamed of it! They are just Potlickers, worth nothing. But, I think I'll let them stare I will walk my cute dogs around the field and if anyone tries to attack me I know they will look after me!

Pot Licker (urbandictionary)
A derogatory reference to one's social status... esp. to one's status of being poor and/or starving. If you are poor you would "lick the bottom of the pot" for all of the scraps and leftovers to make sure to get the most out of it while if you were living in opulence you would not need "the bottom scraps" and thus those who were poor were pot lickers.

Sometimes these days it seems that money and power are more important than the truth. "In this time of universal deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act" (Unknown)

Who can you trust, if those who lead you are deceitful? Those in powerful positions have a responsibility, yet many choose to succumb to money and selfish desires. Conditions sometimes force them to choose themselves over others though many times it is just a desire to further themselves, at the expense of others, I wonder if the leaders even realise the effect their deceit has on those watching. A great leader is one who upholds the responsibility of their followers, who holds true to their principles. Who pays the price? It seems to me that those with little pay the price. Those in positions of power so often abuse it.

Extortion and corruption are everyday occurances in this country. One example is featured in todays newspaper.

"There are frequent reports of extortion of Chinese businessmen and today police have one culprit in hand, a health inspector, who was arrested and charged for the crime of Extortion on Friday. Forty-four year old Jerome Gill of the Indianville Area, Punta Gorda Town is accused of extorting money from Chinese businessman, twenty-nine year old Weijun Tan. Tan reported to Police that on August fifteenth, he was approached by Gill who threatened to close down his restaurant and revoke his food handler’s license if he did not hand over five hundred dollars. Tan took caution and gave him three hundred dollar bills with marked serial numbers and following rapid response by police, the money was quickly recovered."

As a Public Health Inspector Mr Gill had a responsibilty to complete his job as a service to the public. He abused his power to his own gain, ironically it ended up he lost out in the end. But then, is Mr Gill really to blame? In Belizes ecomony when everything is increasing in price who knows what kind of financial pressure Mr Gill was under, maybe he had a family to feed or medical bills to pay. When corruption is so ingraved into society is it the indiviuals fault that they conform to the same way of behaving?

Is it down to an individual to make the right decision?
Or can an individual ultimately only react to the way society conditions them?

It is often the harder road to live a "good life". You can earn $100 in a minute in a bad way, or hard work all day at an honest living for £35. Is it any wonder people resort to corrupt ways to get their money?

So who can you trust?

Believe nothing just because a so-called wise person said it. Believe nothing just because a belief is generally held. Believe nothing just because it is said in ancient books. Believe nothing just because it is said to be of divine origin. Believe nothing just because someone else believes it. Believe only what you yourself test and judge to be true.(Buddha)