From hope to nope!

Took a random survey how simple village folks feel about their livelihood today versus 10 years ago or recent past. Stunning the powerful disfavor they harbor against incumbents. It’s hard shaking off the reality of daily hardship among households resulting from leadership’s obvious negligence.

It’s all about “My Pay Day!”—where 80 percent is gone well in advance.

Most people I’ve talked to say it’s the heavy loss in their buying power—the result of a disastrous economy—that consumes their thoughts daily. “It’s our family income that has gone Deep South.”

Definitely, family finances have gotten worse so how can incumbents as “do-nothings” explain something to the contrary? To say people are tired and exhausted of the daily grind in abject poverty is a vicious understatement. Political punditry aside, listen to their voices. Undeniably, you will hear “we the people” speaking loudly and clearly too!

This is what I’m referring to in the term “percipiency”—the ability to see emerging issues of magnitude in advance that warrant immediate ocular review and plan of action before the procession leaves the parade ground.

In our case, the parade has left years ago, but we keep hanging around hoping it returns for a re-run. Nah! If it’s gone, it’s gone! Is there such a thing as a perceptual parade? Do you see why we need real competency (academic and professional experience) upstairs?

As we yawn with suspect hope for a better break of dawn, investments have come in by trickles, incapable of returning the healthy sum we had in the local coffers like the boom years of the mid-’80s. That has shifted to the “Doom Years of the ’90s”! Imagine the nosedive from $256 million per year to $135 million. No wonder the persistent fiscal crisis!

Cost of everything has gone up. Salaries remain the same (stagnant) for 20 years. No wonder Buddy Magoo retorted, “It has spread like irreversible Stage 4 cancer from Hope to Nope!”

Do you miss reading books?
With social and the main media fracturing precious time and attention span, there’s hardly any room to sit down quietly for at least an hour to read my favorite books.

Through the years while traveling, I’d visit large bookstores, including the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. I’d buy books and bring them home. Never had the time to go through the pages until about four years ago when I settled into full retirement.

Together with the Holy Bible, it’s in the printed ink that I immerse myself, doing slow reading in order to digest and understand the written word. The five books upon which the Bible was written are deeply interesting in the sense that each review granted me a better perspective of events before and during the time of Christ. I’ve read gospels written by St. John, St. Luke, St. Matthew and St. Paul.

The depth of understanding and clarity of what’s written by the world’s best editors is a priceless compilation. Imagine the depth of the material demonstrating exhaustive research, brilliantly and superbly written, the use of various languages to pin contextual clarity of, e.g., a certain Hebrew word used by Christ or St. Luke. There’s a lot to learn including the Lord’s mandate to Moses to pull out the Israelites from Egypt to end their being treated as slaves. Interesting the admonition that came along with it, like don’t treat slaves like perennial slaves for you were once a slave! Did you know that the concept of a homestead started since the days of God the Father?

It’s a good habit (slow reading) in order to see the views of great authors’ on concepts and issues like logic, including the semantics and syntactical aspect of it, and the laws entrusted Moses by God the Father. I’d sashay into selected novels if only to return to descriptive verbs after dealing with bureaucratic lingo most of my government career. The latter ruins your English unless you’re a military type who thrives in pseudonyms.

It’s good to return to reading once more. It’s intellectually challenging, an immersive experience, in addition to the benefits of warding off dementia from hitting us early in our golden years. Moreover, it’s good habit staying ahead on issues of substance that is a scarcity on these isles.

Planned use of Pagan
There have been spouts for a resettlement of the island of Pagan. Not sure what the plan entails or if one factually exists. Specifically, is it the product of the Department of Public Lands, which solely responsible for “management, use and disposition” of public land? If it is privately prepared, has it been sanctioned by the NMI government?

Firstly, such a plan must seriously weigh whether Pagan is safe for resettlement. It must include the sentiments of the indigenous people, not just the “we few” self-appointed or anointed unsanctioned representatives.

I know that there are three volcanoes on the southern side of the island. A volcanologist said no one could predict when it would erupt but there’s a definite chance it would split the island in two if it goes off. Dangerous!

If you have any doubts about the force of nature, try flying over Anatahan. More than three-fourths of the island was blown out into the water. About a third is left on the western side. The balance is one humongous hole over a thousand feet deep. The 1984 eruption of Mt. Pagan is sufficient a lesson to draw from.

Personally, leave the island alone. It isn’t safe for either purpose—military or resettlement—the latter requiring lots of money of upwards of $200 million. What’s the source of funding then when we can’t even pay the $23 million owed CUC or defray the cost of operations of CHC of some $38 million. Let’s wait out the storm or eruption of Pagan if only to secure an all clear declaration. By then we could have funds to begin resettling the island.