The CENSUS TAKER was at my house. ( Problems with the Belize Census )
Cute young girl with her booklets and questions. She asked what relationship I was to Wendy Auxillou and I said I was her father. She explained she had met Wendy at a Coastal Zone conference sometime. Small world Belize. Nowadays, I am not known as Cap'n Ray, the man who took some tourists, who get the daylights scared out of them by the BLUE HOLE MONSTER. I'm known by my children, or my grandchildren. Strange feeling to be a nobody, when once I was a somebody? ( grin! ) ( big fish in a little pond )
Couple of things bothered me on the CENSUS. One was religion. She asked my wife her religion ( Catholic rabid) my brother-in-law Gustavo his religion ( Catholic ), me my religion and I said MAYAN. She wanted to know what that meant and I said, I believe in the GREAT SPIRIT - Itzam Na - who created this UNIVERSE. She promptly fired back that was not a religion though. She got me there, and I was impressed by her response and repartee ( grin! ) In my spiritual views, ALL RELIGIONS are FALSE PROPHETS, as the Great Spirit I communicate with, has no religion, or church. All others who profess so, are con artists, liars, cheats and bunco artists, seeking power, money, control of some kind. To make a long story short, I was entered as having no religion. True enough I guess?
The next item was EDUCATION. I thought that query was very biased. It only supported formal ACADEMIC EDUCATION. Perhaps this education thing, should be more on how much money you have in savings, or assets you own? How do you value a life?
Let me see; I've held at one time or another. 1) A pilots license, 2) A 2000 ton Ocean going Masters license, 3) A scuba diving Instructors certification 4) Pool Operators License ( usa), 5) A HAM Amateur Radio License ( Canadian ) 6) Been qualified to fix radios and televisions back in TV black and white TV days 7 ) A MARINE ARCHITECTS certification 8) A qualified shipwright 9) A mason, 10) an electrician 11) Good small marine diesel mechanic, 12) An ocean navigator, 13) You don't get a certificate or license for knowing how to trade financial derivatives, but I've watched dozens of Ph'ds crash and burn and believe me it is a hard qualification to earn and I've done it 14) Author of couple of dozen books 15) Real Estate developer 16) Contractor for building houses and hotels 17) Primary school teacher ( Belize Teachers College of the 60's )
Anyway, to make a long story short, she persued her CENSUS booklet and it turned out I'm an uneducated moron according to the census. My wife had a Masters Degree, my brother-in-law has a Bachelors Degree in Civil Engineering, but ME - I'm just an uneducated moron. That's a CENSUS??????
I seriously think there should be a different way of valuing an education, and comparing the value - perhaps in savings accounts, or real estate assets, or number of businesses you own, or something?
At any rate, this is the first CENSUS that I have ever been counted and that was impressive!
Monday, May 24, 2010
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