Being part of the problem
This letter is in response to Lino M. Olopai’s letter in the Saipan Tribune on May 20 to David M. Sablan. You say you are insulted by Mr. Sablan’s letter and position. I would try to insult you but I have never met a bigot that could be insulted so with all due respect, Mr. Olopai, you are part of the problem, not part of the solution. This Article 12 issue has been studied to death. The American flag flies over the island and the U.S. did away with classes long ago. Klans are OK as long as they don’t discriminate but they usually do, i.e., the KKK. There are only two classes on the planet, the rich class and the everybody-else class and no one here belongs to the rich class.
Believe what you want but don’t force others to believe it too. You sound old so what you want just might be out of sync with the younger generation who want a good education, vocational or academic, and a decent job so they can raise their family with dignity. You as an elder, apparently, have been remiss in making sure the young Carolinians get either, since I rarely see a picture showing excellence in any form from your community in the papers. You can sail a canoe and fish. Can you pilot a jet plane or design a building or try to heal the divisions in this community? You might start with education.
This isn’t 1814, it’s 2014 and times have changed, you need to consider changing too.
Gary DuBrall
Chalan Piao, Saipan
Three pistols and multiple calibers of bullets were confiscated when a motorist was stopped for speeding in Saipan last Friday. I wonder at times with the number of illegal weapons being confiscated in the CNMI over the past decades, why the numbers of homicides had not sky rocket in our island chain? If you compare the CNMI with a small town in the state of California, our island chain has more illegal guns per capita. Recently there was a shooting rampage in the state of California and several individuals were killed. To think about it, it is the family oriented or family values that we have in the CNMI or shaming our family is the ultimate reason why we enjoyed minimal homicides relating to guns in our paradise.
Thanks to people like Mr. Lino M. Olopai and our elders, our society is not as violent as the city that I grew up in the State of California. The United States flag had been flying over our islands and we are better off than any city in the state of California when it comes to gun violence. My body from California who is living in the CNMI reminds me of not having to deal with random drive by shooting and constant shooting in our islands.
The United States has one of the best educational systems in the world, but it does not have any solution when it comes to dealing with its ghettos or neighborhoods or hoods. Education is not the only answer to our societal problems, I rather be driving a canoe and fishing in the CNMI than worrying about when is the next bullet is going to penetrate my dwelling in California.
Our era is not 1814, it is the year 2014 and I am hoping that we teach our future generations the lessons that we learn from our elders and especially Mr. Lino M. Olopai. Mr. Lino you are not part of our societal problems, you had been an asset to our cultural advancement.