I am writing this in support of Lino Olopai\u2019s letter to the editor the other day. <\/p>\n
If someone had asked me what I thought of the marine monument, I would have said, \u201cIt sounds like a nice thing to do. What do Lino and the other permanent inhabitants of these islands think of the idea?\u201d <\/p>\n
It seems only right to simply ask them if they have any desire for a marine monument that will require them to give up ownership of so much of their birthright. Oh yeah, and no one else is giving up their land or possessions in the deal\u2026just you! <\/p>\n
If I may, what my friend Lino is experiencing is \u201cThe Oppression of the Good Intention\u201d. <\/p>\n
If you watch closely, the one common thread that runs through the well-intentioned action is the desire to \u201csave the world\u201d as long as someone else pays the bill, or sacrifices the land. <\/p>\n
I\u2019ve learned not to ask anyone to do something that I wouldn\u2019t do, or to sacrifice what I wouldn\u2019t sacrifice. That certainly tempers my enthusiasm to do good for those not asking for it. <\/p>\n
I have a lot of personal experience with the consequences of this sort of thing. I witnessed this growing up in Micronesia, and with the Navajo and Choctaw Indians on the U.S. mainland. <\/p>\n
The Indians were the \u201cvictims\u201d of good intentions (and some bad intentions), and will forever deal with the consequences of naively allowing others to take care of them and their land. <\/p>\n
The American government sold the American Indians on the benefits of working with the whites, and then broke every treaty they ever signed. Trust us, we\u2019re with the government! <\/p>\n
I am continually reminded of the admonition, \u201cAnytime the government gives you anything, it was yours in the first place.\u201d The missionaries that came from the mainland to \u201csave\u201d the Hawaiians from themselves never asked them if they wanted to be saved, they just assumed. After all, why wouldn\u2019t someone who lives in Paradise, with no disease before the haoles came, with plentiful food, abundant wildlife, and magnificent weather not want to be saved by someone that couldn\u2019t even speak their language and had no idea of their customs and traditions? <\/p>\n
The oppression of the good intention (or maybe we should call it the \u201cignorant intention\u201d) robbed the Hawaiians of their land, to the point that they became waifs in their own land. The missionaries that came to \u201csave\u201d them somehow ended up owning all the land. <\/p>\n
Today you still see angry Hawaiians living on the beach because they can\u2019t afford a house\u2026in their own land. <\/p>\n
This is why I\u2019ve never argued with Article 12 on Saipan. Lino mentioned that a great deal of promises were made to gain acceptance of the deal. I\u2019m glad that Lino has noticed (and others should take note), that if all of the sales pitches came true we would all be rich and have no problems\u2026not one! <\/p>\n
Anytime someone starts telling you how much this or that is going to save you, make you rich, cure your warts, etc., etc., etc., don\u2019t just walk away\u2014run away! What they\u2019re telling you is a well-intentioned lie designed to get your money, land, or whatever is in question. <\/p>\n
Now I\u2019m not really accusing anyone of lying or being dishonest, just handling it badly. As so often happens, a lot of thought goes into the sales effort, but little thought goes into what happens after the sale.<\/p>\n
Remember the words of Albert Einstein, \u201cAs we solve one problem we invariably create another\u201d,,,and Saipan has seen it\u2019s share of these problems. <\/p>\n
Unfortunately, the \u201csalesmen\u201d of the marine monument don\u2019t have to live with the results as they \u201csolve this problem.\u201d They can sit around, drinking wine, patting themselves in the back, and telling each other what a good job they did saving this spot of the world for future generations, while sitting in the mainland. Too bad they didn\u2019t ask Lino and his generation. <\/p>\n
It would have been a wonderful, respectful, caring thing to do and probably wouldn\u2019t have affected the outcome at all\u2026but will always be a stain on the monument.<\/p>\n
Hopefully I\u2019m wrong, but Lino, I wouldn\u2019t wait too long for the U.S. government to give the land back to the CNMI, or for the people of the CNMI to revel in the too many promised benefits.
\n[B]
\nEd Tudor, DVM[\/B]
\n[I]Sadog Tasi, Saipan[\/I]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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