subject: Guahan's Ability to Become a Prosperous Nation [print this page] Guahan's Ability to Become a Prosperous Nation
The indigenous people of the island known as Guam are losing their identity with only a handfull hanging on and trying to preserve what we have. I'm afraid that with our island's current circumstances and as much preservation as what has been achieved to date, our culture is still at the verge of extinction. Our dependency on foreign affairs to determine our living arrangements will soon disable our ability to carry forth what great chiefs like Hurao, Gadao, and Matapang died for. They sacrificed their lives for the right to continue the use of the language and the ability to teachour childrentheir history passing on to all future generations the knowledge of the way to keep peace in our homeland.
If our ancestors had not been so trusting of the Spanish at the beginning stages of the colonizing of this valuable island, our children of today would not be suffering the tragedies of insufficient education, lack of medical capabilities, or just plain improper guidance. If they had been a little more cautious about the purpose of each visitor, the war probably would have ended in favor of the Chamoru and our island would have grown, not only into a valuable resource, but also, a prosperous economy. International relations would havedevelopedandimprovedwith a genuinesystem of public service that has develped within our culture's traditions and beliefs.
Think about it for a second, before visits from Spaniards, the system Guahan was using worked for longer than anyone could ever have documented. It wasn't until colonization that the economy of Guahan began to fail and give us our current struggles. Our cultivating techniques and fishing methods were far more advanced than any foreigner could comprehend. If those aspects of our culture were kept to continue into today, we would have a great economy exporting products made "only on Guam." Do we really like waiting for a Ruler, who knows nothing about our circumstances,to cut us a check after reviewing our statements and requests and giving approval for us to import goods from thousands of miles away.
I feel that if we stop focusing our energy on resources that are out of our control, we can change our fate into prosperity. So much time, money, and effort is wasted on the task of giving tourists a taste of the American life on Guam, which is almost completely different than the down to earth Chamoru culture. Another big waste of energy goes to sustaining a dependency on a negligent Ruler thousands of miles away -engaged in far too many campaigns to keep itself from economic disaster.
Why do our elected officials choose to waste time and energy into a system that jeopardizes the well being of their people? If Hurao had the power of the Internet to spread the thoughts in his great speech of 1671, the self sustaining way of life back then would have lead to a very peaceful nation with a very prosperous economy now. Our ancestors would have been able to drive off the settlers to ensure that they understand how to respect our way of life. Then because of our peaceful nature, we could not help but allow them back on the island to negotiate terms and conditions of international relations. This would have allowed us to trade our excess catch and crop for tools and educational information so that we may be able to produce more of an excess of food while still sustaining the island's supplies.
We can still achieve self-sustainability if we open up the employment gates for agriculture. With all the different uses of just the coconut tree alone, I don't understand why the political representatives of the island have neglected using its abundance to contribute to self-sustaining revenue. Why do our political representative always choose to imitate the the system of a nationwith another way of life. Their values don't exactly coincide with ours. So, wouldn't it be fair to say that mirroring the system for a different way of life will produce different results?
I feel that we can still achieve this economic independence, but it is definately going to take a lot of hard work and dedication to become self sustaining. Big changes need to begin such as redirecting focus from importinggoods to improving our fishing and ranching capabilities and policies. We also need to shift the priorities of housing availabilityinto agriculture and recycling.
Our land is already scarce enough as it is. The construction of houses should be ceased and law should take effect to require only tall buildings for residence so that more land can be farmed. An alternative to this could be using construction to provide more farming capabilities. I've been told of proven methods of indoor agriculture which should allow tall building that are created just for producing crops.
If we start enhancing our agricultural capabilities now, we might be able to give our children's grandchildren a quality of life that moves in an upward direction. Let's stop thinking about how our island's problems now can be fixed and start thinking about preventing problems of future generations. The problems we have now cannot be alleviated anymore. We can only ride out the disastrous ripples and hope to make it through the waves of problems up ahead.
The current demand of a drastic increase in population will only further confuse the solutions set forth in all the reckless risk assessments and careless planning. Let's change the one thing everyone overlooks or ignores because of the insecurities it arises. The indigenous people of Guahan need to gain back the power and authority of their homeland in order to be able to decide for itself the correct direction to the brighter future.
We need to change our system. This one hasn't worked here on Guam since the day the Organic Act of 1950 was set into action. If you feel that I'm wrong on this one, how do you explain our outstanding deficit and all the audits the U.S. Federal Government conducts because our numbers don't add up? This is a perfect example of what the Americans themselves fought to prevent from happening to their way of life. I feel that with as much support and patriotism as my people have shown for the United States of America (myself included) we deserve to have action toward self-governance before population influx cause irreparable damage to this island's economy.
