Most of my life,
I have lived most of my life in a small island in the western Caribbean famed: Roatan.
Roatan island is one of the three bay islands of Honduras. The island depends on the Tourism industry and is rising as a famous destination. Although there is a beautiful and touristy side, growing up here felt more like being in a small west texas town. Everyone was into cattle, guns, and everyone knew who you were and your parents... It was a small town. Here are a few things I learned growing up here:
- The world is a small place. Now more than ever I have discover that the world is a small place. I mean in a psycho social sense. I have gotten to meet people from all over the world here, and I have found out everyone is pretty much looking for the same thing: life, liberty, and a place to call home. It does not matter where you are coming from, we all just want to opportunity to live in freedom. If you overlook the political geographical divides, then as a species we have so much more in common that what divides us. So I like to think that we world is a small place, because you can relate to anyone by identifying shared values and ideas.
- You always have a choice. Something that is not commonly known about Roatan is that the island is a safe-haven for narcotics smugglers. This section of Central America is part of the famous North Honduras highway (that is, narcotics highway). So among the small town there was an unspoken industry that kept a lot of cash flowing through here. It certainly was the easy way to get a high paying job, of course accepting the risks. Thankfully my parents taught me better than that, and I have managed to do moral business all of my life. So from an early age I learned that you have an easy and a hard (regular) way to live. From that experience, I have always said that in Roatan you have a choice of business. In a general sense, I like to say that you always have choice. You can choose that fast way or the correct way.
By advice to a few kids I have had the chance to mentor is to always look for a "correct" way to get things done. There is a way of evaluating if an action/choice is Absolutely Correct: An action is Absolutely Correct if 1. it does not interfere with someone else's property and 2. it is a rational idea. If a choice meets these two criteria, then it is a CORRECT choice. This methodology has helped me to evaluate many decisions that seemed "gray" at first.
I give credit to this idea of Absolute Correctness to A.J. Galombos and J. Stuart Snelson. I learned this through their recordings of the V50 Lectures.
I hope you enjoy this,
PraisebetoJAH
References:
Roatan Map http://www.roatan.net/roatan-maps.html
A.J. Galombos - The V50 Lectures - as narrated by J. Stuart Snelson
