Belmopan, Belize (Belizean.com) Former Belize Prime Minister Rt. Hon, George Price who led Belize into independence in 1981 has been hospitalized after suffering a fall at his Belize City home over the weekend.
Mr. Price who recently celebrated his 91st birthday was admitted to the Belize Health Care Partners for observation and is expected to be discharged by midweek.
Known as the Father of The Nation, Mr. Price can frequently be seen taking his walk between his home and the Holy
Redeemer Cathedral for early morning mass – a practice he has kept for decades. Lately, Price has been spending time working on his
biography to be published in the months to come.
Noted Belize Commentator G. Michael Reid this week wrote a guest editorial on the Rt. Hon George Price:
Rt. Hon. George Price Turns 91
The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. You can't blow an uncertain trumpet. ~ Theodore M. Hesburgh
A leader is a dealer in hope. ~ Napoleon Bonaparte
Today January 15th is the birthday of a very famous American hero. Civil rights leader, Martin Luther King Jr., whose life had a huge impact on the American way of life, was born on this day in 1929. An ordained Baptist preacher, King led non-violent protests and rallies across America that essentially toppled the ignoble and unjust system of segregation and discrimination that followed the even more irrepressible system of slavery. Dr. King's life was cut short by an assassin's bullet but his dream has lived on and has inspired people around the world to strive for peace and racial equality. Today, a black man has risen to the highest office in that country but was it not for Luther King, there could not have been a Barak Obama. Since 1983, Doctor King's birthday has been celebrated as a national and bank holiday in the United States.
In Belize, January 15th is also a significant date and while it is not yet a holiday, if there is any justice in this world, it soon will be.
January 15th marks also, the birth date of a Belizean hero; the man hailed and honored as the Father of our Nation. Former Prime Minister George Price turns 92 years old today and while his struggle was somewhat different from Luther King's, his legacy and dream will also live on to inspire generations to come. "Precio", as he was affectionately called by many, is obviously no longer the spry young warrior that he once was, but "the Old Man" still retains much of the spirit and sagacity that established him as Belize's longest serving leader and most respected political statesman.