A tale of the future, in 3 to 4 years or around 2015 if not before

It was one of those cool evenings on Saipan that was unremarkable in its similarity with thousands of others. A flaming sunset over the Philippine Sea, its golden rays reflected on a smooth azure lagoon surface where rippling waves were brushed by a cool breeze rolling down from a brooding Mt. Tapotchau.

The island’s high point beneath a thin veil of cloud wisps was largely unnoticed by those mesmerized by the setting sun, waiting to glimpse the “green flash.”

The island was quite at this time of evening as Jose sat on a weather-beaten bench at seaside and thought about his life and the future of his family.

He and many of his friends had spent their productive years employed by Public Works until their retirement and the promise of financial security in their remaining years. As he reminisced within the peacefulness of the evening, the breeze at his back made it difficult to concentrate as his eyelids slowly closed as he remembered better days.

From somewhere through the mist of memories he distantly recalled the old wooden cart being pulled by a huge, lumbering bull along a quiet, potholed Middle Road on its way to a ranch in Papago and also one of his parents’ stories about picking up lumps of coal along the narrow gauge track of the Japanese Sugar Train, later to be used to cook rice for the family dinner.

It was all long ago of a period swept away on the waves of time.

“Strange”, he thought, “that these unrelated thoughts would return to him on this evening of worry and deep concern as to how he was going to make it now that he no longer had a pension.”

Suddenly he was shocked back to the reality of the day-something happened to that dream-it was all wrong, there was no longer a retirement pension and he wondered how he was going to manage without money.

He remembered first hearing about the problems with the Retirement Fund six years ago starting around 2009 and the endless squabbling between attorneys that didn’t seem to resolve the problem, certainly not by 2011 at the time of the three-year warning death knell of the Fund. He heard his friends criticize the slow, unproductive process as they discussed how the administration, the courts and the Legislature tried unsuccessfully to solve the problems with the Fund but only resulted in delay after delay, week in and week out, month after month, with nothing done except to rapidly diminish the money available to meet retirees’ pensions until-one day a year ago-it was all gone.

Now there is no pension check and no promise of one. Even the Retirement Fund Building was empty and for sale.

The retirees’ problem, which had festered since early 2000, had solved itself as the fund was now totally exhausted and the administration, the court, and the Legislature no longer had reason to argue over a solution as the resources of the fund-his money, along with that of his retired friends-dried up from inaction on the part of the government and their elected leaders, particularly those members of the 17th Legislature as well as the many lawmakers before them and the governors of several past administrations.

“What were they thinking?” he wondered. “Didn’t they care about us?”

His mind reeled with thoughts as to how he was going to get by. He would have to depend on food stamps, his small garden, and fish from the sea. But now fishing was no longer a recreation-it was essential for food as it was in the past to sustain his parents and grandparents and theirs before them.

No more imported food for the family table from island merchants-it was too expensive.

He recalled the huge schools of atulai that would enter the lagoon at certain times of the year and be scooped up in large nets, brought to shore and divided among waiting families. But now these fish were not so numerous any more-not like the old days.

Without money, he had long ago reduced his use of CUC power to only the bare minimum as evidenced by the small, low-watt light bulb that burned only a short time each evening-power was so costly it had become almost unaffordable. Air conditioning, which was once enjoyed on hot, humid nights, was a thing only remembered. For many retirees it was even difficult to pay for cable television. So many had canceled their subscription the cable company had to increase its subscription charges to make up for income lost as a result of fewer viewers.

Many families had to “double up” just to get by.

His friend, who was also retired, had financed a pickup from the bank but was unable to make his payments and the bank repossessed the vehicle and sold it to someone else for the balance due. The bank didn’t want the truck as it already had too many as a result of others who were unable to make their payments.

Still another boyhood friend had passed away unexpectedly and his family was without insurance to meet a person’s final expenses as the premiums had not been paid and the policy had lapsed. All the years of deductions for insurance from his paycheck were lost.

Jose could sympathize with this dilemma as he had recently learned his government group medical insurance coverage had been canceled for non-payment and now he was too old to purchase a policy at rates he could afford because of a preexisting, uninsurable, medical condition. He was diabetic.

He had no choice but to rely upon the limited capacity of CHC, which was OK for minor medical maintenance but was another matter for complicated issues requiring specialized treatment.

All these things raced through Jose’s mind as he, like many of his retired friends, had avoided facing them in the past.

“All the elements of paradise are here,” he thought as he gazed out upon the lagoon and considered his situation, “but not the full pleasure of savoring the beauty when you are retired on the islands without money in an economy with limited employment opportunities.”

“It could have all been different but we retirees and our families failed to take collective action to save our retirement.”

“Instead many of us left it to others with no personal stake in the outcome to represent their interest. A very big mistake-but now it was too late.”

Jose wondered, “What did we expect?”

“That some one else would protect our interest?”

“We were wrong.”

Night was fast coming and soon Jose would feel the cool of the evening as stars appeared overhead like diamonds on black velvet and a Rachmaninoff moon shredded the mist and pierced the clouds as the full white orb rose over Mount Tapotchau.

It was beautiful as the early evening came to a close and Jose struggled to get up to go home and leave it all behind to return to face his family.

“Why is it”, he thought, “that the island has produced so few leaders capable of solving our problems?”

“I don’t see or hear that the same indifference prevails on Guam as it is in the NMI.”

“What’s the difference between the two Chamorro societies?”

“Are we in the Northern Marianas crippled by the differences in the history between the two island groups where we continually see our inflexible relationship with the U.S. bound and forever restricted by a 35-year-old Covenant and used it a weapon-a sort of threat every time there was some perceived difference of opinion, real or imagined, with U.S. policy?”

As night fell and the traffic thinned on the road to Jose’s house he thought, “My God, why don’t they just thank the taxpaying U.S. citizens, instead of bitching, suing and hand wringing over how only a few islanders allege mistreatment and misunderstanding by those indifferent, uncaring “mean-ol’ Feds.”

“ Laña, give me a break. Reminds me of an adolescent rejected by his first love.”

“After the many hundreds of millions of dollars provided by the United States to raise our standard of living why are we not more vocal in our appreciation? Instead, we have legislators who every few years want to reexamine our continuing relationship with America. A couple of them even advocating independence and several have publicly stated they don’t want to be an American citizen.”

“It’s their choice-all they have to do is surrender their passport and tell their neighbors to live without food stamps, Head Start, SSI, Medicare, Medicaid, postal services, typhoon relief, educational assistance, and most everything else from the outside you can think of that can’t and hasn’t been provided by our local government.”

“As I look at the deteriorated condition resulting from the government’s handing of the San Roque Shopping Mall, I can only guess at what the island would look like if they had their way.”

“This is the bunch who can’t provide reasonably priced, reliable power islandwide; 24-hour potable water; or establish the conditions to stimulate our economy.”

“And they want to reexamine our relationship with the United States?”

“What’s their problem?”

“Are these people truly looking out for my best interest? I don’t think so.”

As Jose made his way home he left behind the view of the lagoon’s fringing reefs, the white froth of breaking waves, the azure waters, the smell of salt spray, and the sound of rattling palm fronds in a quiet breeze all as much as one of earth’s jewels as any emerald.

“The government has had a hard time protecting and enhancing even these natural God-given treasures,” he thought.

“We would be wise to exercise more care who we elect. A disgruntled lawmaker can make a lot more than laws. He or she can make a lot of trouble and negatively impact our lives by dabbling in issues they know nothing about. Of which one in particular being ruining the business climate for foreign investors.”

“This is the 21st century and some of those guys seem to want to push us back 40 years to the days of the Trust Territory period.”

“Don’t they know the Cold War is over and we don’t have the strategic appeal we once had for the U.S.?”

“Super carriers have replaced us.”

“We shouldn’t make to much of an issue over molehills or we may be left alone to fend for ourselves on the top of an extinct volcano in the western Pacific.”

“The Japanese have an expression: ‘If a nail sticks up, pound it down.’”

“If we continue to draw attention to ourselves through lawsuits against the federal government and complaints of dissatisfaction, it may just happen that we will get ‘nailed down’ particularly if the average American taxpayer ever learns we were permitted to keep our taxes through the rebate while we were getting theirs.”