The oversized indigenous short memory reminds me of a joke of old ladies who celebrate their birthdays annually. They go to the Culture Restaurant every year, together.<\/p>\n
At 50 they gather at the restaurant because the coffee is perfectly perked, at 60 because the saut\u00e9ed fresh corned beef is food to die for, at 70 because the waiters wear tight pants; at 80 because they\u2019ve never been there!<\/p>\n
It seems a form of dementia is creeping dangerously among the indigenous elite\u2014a group made up of administration officials and legislators\u2014that try to navigate a canoe, though they\u2019ve never touched a paddle.<\/p>\n
The illness is a combination of dyslexia, hypoxia, and amnesia. Officials use culture in speeches but have offered nothing that provides edification\u2014strengthening\u2014of local tradition. Have they ever listened to their towering empty spouts?<\/p>\n
For over three decades, the indigenous elite simply failed to create economic opportunities to help households find meaningful employment to earn and bring home the bacon with dignity.<\/p>\n
Did we do anything to prevent the loss of a $2.1-billion apparel industry, the exodus of major Nippon investments, e.g., JAL, Nikko Hotel, Ric Tours, and others? Didn\u2019t we simply sleepwalk it, convinced it\u2019s just another passing cotton ball? Wasn\u2019t the investment loss about $5 billion to $7 billion?<\/p>\n
This failure was eased and hidden with NAP program in place and SNAP in the near-term. The millions of dollars that come for either program wasn\u2019t money generated here through taxes. It\u2019s another\u2019s creation paid for dutifully by U.S. taxpayers.<\/p>\n
Our role is limited to social workers redistributing the largess. That it\u2019s free denies recipients the opportunity to understand the value and meaning of money because they\u2019ve never earned it. The elite did nothing but tacitly acquiesce it because it covers their inadequacies. It did so mindless of its dire unintended consequences.<\/p>\n
The self-inflicted hardship was placed against villagers. With joblessness, indeed it\u2019s the answer to any family\u2019s prayer because there\u2019s none from the local government.<\/p>\n
We wanted undisturbed progress but how do you define this beast? Why are we so weak and scattered on this and other issues of substance? What\u2019s our value system anyway? Is it resting on the floor of NAP, casino as the dreamed economic mainstay and the accompanying destruction of traditional values? Why have we skipped planning our future? Is permanent dependence your trophy for the multitude hailing from your failed leadership?<\/p>\n
With the quiet tool of neo-colonialism leaching everywhere coupled with new money from across the Philippine Sea, the elite has turned many of us into \u201ccornered lapdogs.\u201d They now command, \u201cYou go work for BSI then go down to the port and sing \u2018Hafa Adai\u2019 to two-by-fours, plywood, nails, cement bags\u2026so we keep our new bosses happy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Culture seems a convenient mouthwash as to openly ignore the simultaneous deculturation of indigenous tradition. It\u2019s conveniently treated with inconsequence. Could this be blamed on our agility to fast track the combined illnesses?<\/p>\n
Villagers\u2019 decision<\/strong> It\u2019s the lowest level of the economic ladder that is hardly visible from atop imperial I Deni`. Folks simply do what had to be done to endure the inevitable dire condition they\u2019re forced into. Surprising how easily they subdue hardships with bright smiles and confident voices. It\u2019s quiet indigenous resiliency without the elected elite!<\/p>\n Local leadership has accepted the runaway condition as the holy grail of the livelihood of our people. But then what could village folks do when the canoe is steered by people who have never even done traditional navigation? No clue either what a navigational chart looks like.<\/p>\n Deafening the slow but steady building of irreversible and immutable dependency from federal entitlements. So you see why I fear addressing culture given the level of deculturation. But it\u2019s not as bad as Chamolinian culture warriors that recently made another trip to the restaurant, saying they\u2019ve never been there after frequenting the place for 40 years.<\/p>\n Do-nothing culture<\/strong> When you\u2019re into \u201cNo Good Land\u201d the left side starts tooting the warning sign. The dysfunction has reached unprecedented level.<\/p>\n Another said it\u2019s good to place them on our radar screen so \u201cwe don\u2019t bother them in what they do best\u2014nothing!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The oversized indigenous short memory reminds me of a joke of old ladies who celebrate…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4519,4520,67,1907],"class_list":["post-201467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion","tag-jal","tag-nikko-hotel","tag-people","tag-snap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201467\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nIn the midst of the deepening abject poverty are the decisions at the village level that focus on family survival. Our families quietly farm, fish, hunt, engage reciprocity where needed, and stretch out as much as they could to help those in dire need.<\/p>\n
\nAt a coffee shop I overheard two friends talking about a new illness they call \u201cright brain syndrome.\u201d So it is clear, the right side of the brain gives you the ability to tell right from wrong.<\/p>\n