Previous Story
An asset to the culture
Three pistols and multiple calibers of bullets were confiscated when a motorist was stopped for speeding on 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 has not skyrocketed 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 in our family that is the ultimate reason why we have 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 buddy 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’d 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.
Segundo Castro
Marpo Valley, Tinian
