More First Impressions (suivra en français)

Our first night in our new home, which is a beautiful little house by the way, we were entertained all night by roosters crowing. I think at least one of them must have managed to sneak under our fence to make sure we heard him alright.  Perhaps a reminder not to deny our Lord?

I think I mentioned in my first blog on this subject that a group of Texan high schoolers were visiting various churches in the region, visiting local schools, doing skits, etc. I accompanied them morning and afternoon to help with the translation where needed.  The first day I didn’t feel it was worthwhile going back home for the short lunch period, so I went to the market, sat at a counter and asked for a coffee and a biscuit.  As I was the only customer (there were only two or three seats at the counter), the lady who served me the coffee got to talking with me, asking me what country I was from. Then she said, “You’re a very handsome man!”  I grinned and said: “I know, my wife tells me that all the time!”  She chuckled, and then we had a more serious conversation about faith and relationship with God.

There is a lot of corruption in Honduras. Central America is known for that. But I wonder, is Central America really more corrupt than Canada or the United States?  If during a recession, the government hands out billions of dollars to corporations and banks, and those same corporations let their directors and presidents go with multi-million dollar “bonuses”?  If a policeman can fire several bullets into a homeless man, and there is no trial?  I don’t know which country is “better”.  Yes, Central America is more dangerous to live in, and we are more in touch with corruption on a daily basis. There is much more poverty, sickness, and shorter life span. But as a people, are they worse than North Americans? They are just as hard working, if not often more so. But they are paid much less. They are often kinder, although not always.  Among the more violent element, it seems that the value of life is much lower.  It is easier to kill someone, or to let them die. But I wonder, as North Americans, do we really care about life and death in third world countries? As long as our own comfort is not disturbed, is the value of other people’s lives really that high to us?  These are just questions to think about.  But I think we should definitely think twice, and perhaps three or four times, before looking down our noses at people from other countries that are less well off than us.

Well, this blog is called “Thots”, so I thought I would give you a few “thots” to think about. J