Maggie's Farm

When I think about indigenous populations like that, I think about regions which are not isolated. There are 2 ways to handle things - let them just happen (preferred), or force them to happen. The town I visited on my honeymoon, and how people here in NYC reacted to its 'backwardness' show why we should leave well enough alone.


Our honeymoon was on Ambergris Cay in Belize. Town of San Pedro. A little town with 3 streets - Front, Middle and Back. Each of them ran about 5 blocks. This was 23 years ago. Take a look at the map now - San Pedro is pretty grown up.

We walked into a bar with a second floor terrace and sat down to have a beer and look at the ocean. The owner sat with us and chatted. He was blues guitarist, and I enjoy the blues. It was fun to hear his stories, particularly because Jimmy Buffett sometimes showed up and had concerts on the beach there, and he'd play with them. My wife got up to get another beer, and he handed her his glass and said "If you don't mind, while you're pouring yours, can you pour me another?" Self-service bars...had to love it.

However, most of the people in the town lived in what are best described as ramshackle huts. Corrugated sheet metal and wood. No shoes were required anywhere, and locals would catch fish and have fish fries on the beach. Anyone was welcome to join (you had to pay a small fee, but it was amazing tasting fish, wrapped in foil with all kinds of vegetables and mayonnaise. Sounds awful but tasted incredible.)

When I got back to work, Bill Clinton was running for president and many people I worked with (this being NYC) were attending his rallies. Their Progressive mindset was kicking in as I described the rustic setting which made our honeymoon perfect. "How did it feel living so well when people were barely getting by?"

I'm not sure what they were getting at. We spent 2 nights in a grass hut until the mosquitoes forced us to book a 'real' room. By 'real' I mean something from 1920, but with the bonus of air conditioning.

I explained that the 'hotel' I stayed at was designed to be washed away in a hurricane, just like the corrugated shacks. There was a hardened shelter on the island, on the highest ground, where locals would go prior to a storm to ride it out. All my Progressive friends were appalled. "We really need to help people like that."

Do we? They had good lives, they weren't asking for help. I'm all for progress, and yesterday I even commented about the guy who felt he played a role in 'ruining' Thailand. Progress is a good thing. But it doesn't have to be forced on people.

At the time of my honeymoon, there was one new hotel being built. It was the first truly hardened hotel - it was designed to survive the worst nature could throw at it. Today there are many of these things in San Pedro.

I don't miss the small town of my honeymoon. It grew up. But it grew up on its own, and by its own choice. It didn't grow up because some Progressives showed up to show them how to live better, believing it was in the people's best interest.