Carlos Molina wrote a post criticizing the bad habits of the Honduran people and the deplorable state of cities in Honduras.

He believes that if we had been conquered by Dutchs or Germans instead of Spaniards, another would be our luck. But having been conquered by the Spaniards we have inherited their “culture of destruction”.

Therefore, we are irresponsible, lazy, untidy, unpunctual, liars, dirty, polluters, crooks and corrupt.

Carlos Molina shared the opinion of Cesar Indiano in his book “The Bible of the Donkey” that “we live in a country of shit.”

But Molina contradicts himself when he recognized that in Latin America there are more advanced cultures, but these were also conquered by the Spaniards.

This reminds me of when in a presentation in a college class I commented that “We Hondurans are lazy.” And the teacher asked: “Do you considere yourself lazy?.” And I said: “No”. “So do not generalize and don’t say that all Hondurans are lazy.” And I admitted that the teacher was right. Such generalizations are wrong.

There are many theories that attempt to explain underdevelopment, but none is completely satisfactory. Instead of worrying for our supposed cultural incapacity, we must project ourselves to the future, thinking about the kind of people we want to be, and taking steps to get there.

If we want change, we must be optimistic and hope for the best. Bad opinions of ourselvest turn against us and prevent us from improving, thinking it makes no sense to make an effort, because the fight is lost in advance. These beliefs about the Honduran identity become self-fulfilling. We need to break the vicious cycle of pessimism.