Tanholdings focuses on future of our kids

A year or so ago, Tanholdings, through Willie and Jerry Tan, donated over $30,000 for the purchase and installation of computers at the Joeten/Kiyu Library. This effort wasn’t a public relations gesture of returning something to the local community, but a genuine commitment to introduce and prepare our kids (even adults) to the use of computers and all the benefits that the Information Technology brings to these isles.

It was a commitment of their father (Dr. Tan) who saw the need to provide the means where families can learn the uses of this vitally important tool, the tool of the next millennium, worldwide. While some families can afford computers, most aren’t situated as to be able to buy one for their children’s use at home.

I was nearly reduced to tears of joy one Saturday when I visited the Joeten/Kiyu Library to find primary grade students converging before computers helping one another find the appropriate subject under research through yahoo’s search engine. I felt humbled by the very notion that our kids, in fact, have a bright future if they continue learning the uses of computers for research or homework. Yes, it is the first time that I really felt confident that there’s in fact a future for our children.

The civic minded Jerry Tan has taken a further step by donating additional funds to purchase software to upgrade the computers at the library. On a collective basis, the donation is a tale of a commitment by an excellent corporate citizen to help the people in this community move ahead in the gradual attainment of computer literacy, a must for every child throughout these isles in the next millennium.

Yes, computer literacy is a must for success in the next millennium. I thank Tanholdings (Dr. Tan in particular) for his vision in providing a conduit for our young people so they can benefit from the rewards of the Information Technology that has basically changed life on planet earth. If you’re a grammar school student without a computer, advice mom and dad to save a little each year so that you can have your own computer by the time you reach freshman year in high school. If you don’t have one today, it’s available at the Joeten/Kiyu Library. Make use of it and while at the library, check out a good book so you can improve your reading comprehension and vocabulary.

Other companies have undertaken donations of lasting nature or investment in various sectors of our community. And for fear that I may not list them all, I’ll rest my case until I get all my facts together. Dispensasion, pot fabot!

No inkling of crisis at hand

In the various trips I’ve taken around the island in search of front page photo material, I’ve run into ordinary people who quiz where I work and the usual felicitation that winds up in a serious discussion.

One was an intelligent young man who asked: Did we ever experience this at any period in our developmental history? I responded in the affirmative which was the turn-over of administration from the Navy to Interior around 1961. He was puzzled and a bit perturbed at the explanation.

He came back with another query: Need we go through this hardship, sir? Eh, that was a hard question from a maintenance employee and I was caught with my pants down. I was like: “Where are the policymakers when I needed them!” But I gave him the snowball job so I could exit the conversation. I did, successfully!

How stunning though that the average man on the street has no inkling that the crisis at hand is really bad. Nine out of ten are contented that they have a government job. I suppose this reliance or mentality (however detrimental) is quite pervasive among government employees. Do I blame them for their innocence? No sir! But
I’m troubled by it all. Well, can’t solve each of `em, right?