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Time capsule
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Posted on Feb 07 2012
The pomp and circumstance of the Saipan Leadership Memorial Kiosko is well underway. Aside from adorning the walls of this kiosko with the names of heralded leaders of the CNMI over the course of time, it would be an important milestone also for those who are spearheading this project to have a space within the project perimeter reserved for a “time capsule” of some sort that will store and preserve special artifacts and mementos of modern day CNMI. The stored materials in this preserved space would be an excursion in time about the indigenous people, signifying what it was a century then. The “time capsule” will be designed to sustain all possible situations for that 100-year time frame.
If the indigenous people of these islands today follow a path leading to their own extinction, this “time capsule” would bear witness as a reminder to those living in the Mariana islands a century from now that these islands were once the home of Chamorro and Carolinian people who were the indigenous people that lived on these islands. This “time capsule” will give present day indigenous people the time and space to understand that these islands should be protected for all people who recognize their past as Chamorro and Carolinian people who were the true indigenous people, and their descendants should uphold a strong resistance to minimize the intrusion by outsiders.
This will be viewed as “selfish” but it is through this attachment with ancestral influences that I would keep my identity and ward off any contravening forces that may overcome what and who I am as an indigenous Chamorro or Carolinian descendant of these islands.
Francisco R. Agulto
Chalan Kanoa, Saipan
