The fortune cookie and a glass of water

My name is Gabriel Dela Cruz Camacho. I was born and raised in the beautiful village of Oleai and now a resident of Capital Hill. I have served under many administrations under different capacities dating back since the Trust Territory days. I worked with the last Mariana Islands District Legislature in 1976, then with the inception of the new Northern Marianas Islands Legislature. I also worked as assistant legislative affairs officer under former governor Carlos S. Camacho and was deputy/acting Secretary of Finance under former governor Froilan C. Tenorio where I retired in 1997.

During my days of work, I dealt with many issues involving decisions that were both critical and compromising. This runoff election involves a lot of retirees like me having to make a decision so that we could continue to have our benefits and live a happy retirement life. The views I express should be taken as my personal observation and not to break my family or anyone’s family gubernatorial choice.

What I’d like to offer is an analogy between the two campaigns in the runoff.

When you walk into a Chinese restaurant, you are treated to a fortune cookie and a glass of water. Now let’s say that the fortune cookie represents Inos-Torres and that the water is Hofschneider-Yumul. The message hidden in the fortune cookie could give you the blessings that you’re waiting for or something not so appealing to you. A lot of the time with fortune cookies, our expectations are high but the reality is not good enough, so you go ahead and eat the cookie. As for the water, it is clear. You could see right through it as it represents transparency. You ate the cookie and happened to choke on it, so do you eat another one? Or do you drink the water to solve the problem? So you drink the water because it solves the problem that the fortune cookie could not do.

The moral of this story is to allow you to understand that you must see things through and not things hidden that may entail disaster.

So I appeal to my family and friends and humbly ask for your support in voting for Heinz-Ray this coming runoff election so that our lives can “change” for the better starting with you, starting now.

Gabriel Dela Cruz Camacho
Capital Hill, Saipan