NotiPR :: That's All Folks! :: The Week Puerto Rico Got It Right -- WELL ALMOST!

11.19.04

The Week Puerto Rico Got It Right -- WELL ALMOST!

By Keith W. Tyras Romanello 2004: 10.22 10.29 11.5 11.12 11.26 12.3 12.10 12.17 12.24 12.31

2005: 1.7 1.14 1.21 1.28 2.4 2.11 2.18 2.25 3.4 3.11 3.18 3.25 4.1 4.8 4.15 4.22 4.29 5.6 5.13 5.20 5.27 6.3 6.10 6.17 6.24 7.1 7.8 7.15 7.22 7.29 8.5 8.12 8.19 8.26 9.2

This week turned out to be one of the most important weeks in Puerto Rico in the past 20 years -- and if I were to take a guess, I'd say that most of the 3.8 million people living on the Island didn't even hear about it. It wasn't the usual news people expect to read and hear about on a daily basis -- the news this week had the potential to change Puerto Rico for the better, permanently.

This past Monday there was an article in El Nuevo Día entitled "Apoyo a hijos de confinados." Thanks to the United Fund of Puerto Rico / Fondos Unidos de Puerto Rico, the Puerto Rico Legislature / la Legislatura, the Department of Family / el Departamento de la Familia, the city of Moca / el Municipio de Moca, The Ferré Rangel Foundation / la Fundación Ferré Rangel and various Churches on the Island, a project called "Rayos de Esperanza" / "Ray of Hope" will help many hundreds of children who have parents serving time in prison in the North Eastern part of the Island.

I can only imagine what it would be like for a kid growing up with a parent in prison. The only thing worse -I suppose- would be having a parent living in a neighboring city with their new family, ignoring their first. At least with a parent in prison the kids can be told that their parent still loves them A LOT.

There are probably more kids in Puerto Rico separated by SELFISH, UNCARING acts than CRIMINAL acts.

Hopefully this will be just the beginning and the "Ray of Hope" project will eventually and shortly include the MANY tens of thousands of KIDS who are THEMSELVES IMPRISONED by their deadbeat parents -usually deadbeat dads- who like to go gallivanting around Puerto Rico and elsewhere IGNORING their "living" responsibilities and creating new "living" legacies.

There's no need to hope that this program succeeds -- IT WILL -- IT CAN'T MISS!

Imagine if a similar program was created and available a generation or two ago. There wouldn't be too many "hijos de confinados en Puerto Rico" / "children of inmates in Puerto Rico" because there wouldn't be too many "confinados" / "inmates."

Equally important this week was the article in Primera Hora and on PRWow.com, "Uno de cada 13 estudiantes ha usado drogas" / "1 In 13 Students Have Used Illegal Drugs." Thanks to the Oficina de Control de Drogas / Office of Drug Control, for the very first time -- imagine that, THE VERY FIRST TIME, the people in power will be able to effectively reduce drug use among teens in the areas where it is rampant.

It would be interesting to see if the statistics for drug use among young people in Puerto Rico coincides with the statistics for parents -MOSTLY DADS- who do not pay for and/or pay attention to their children, during the same years of the study.

I'll bet that these stats match up very closely -- and if they do -- the people in power can hopefully FINALLY attack the root problem. With the great work ASUME did in the past 4 years getting MANY more "parents" -MOSTLY DADS- to pay for their kid(s) FUTURE is any indication, the drug use stats should go down for the next OCD report.

Just imagine how far the stats for teen drug use could be reduced if a government agency could force "PARENTS" to take care of their kids from DAY ONE. Well, THEY CAN -- through the EDUCATION DEPARTMENT -- from kindergarten through college with age appropriate lessons on RESPONSIBLE PARENTING and at what age and income level it is RESPONSIBLE to become a PARENT.

And finally the WELL ALMOST! part of the most promising week in the past 20 years. I couldn't help but notice 2 distinct articles Wednesday with Luis Muñoz Marín mentioned in both. The first article regarding the Field Museum and Jacqueline Kennedy is a nice reminder of a governor who left office accomplishing A LOT, leaving Puerto Rico a lot better off then when he arrived.

The article regarding the school in Caguas named after him, la escuela elemental Luis Muñoz Marín "Graves problemas de aguas usadas en escuela de Caguas" is quite different. Imagine 314 students and 25 teachers having to protest just to have a school that works once in a while. You'd think ONE PHONE CALL would have done the trick.

ANOTHER DISGRACE, ANOTHER SCANDAL, ANOTHER PITIFUL EXAMPLE of exactly what happens when the people in power spend more time BETTERING THEMSELVES FIRST and then, if and when they get a few free moments, doing LITTLE OR NOTHING for the people they "serve."

I can just imagine some of the people in power getting really pissed off if there was a problem with their reservations at Ajili Mójili and immediately ordering their staff to fix the problem. Is it really asking too much to EXPECT the same attention to detail when it comes to 314 kids being able to go to a school everyday THAT WORKS?

What a way to honor Luis Muñoz Marín and more importantly Puerto Rico's FUTURE generation!

I have no idea who is actually to blame for this. It could be the Department of Education, the Governor, the Mayor of Caguas, all three or none of them. The blame definitely falls somewhere. AT THE VERY LEAST the person responsible should, AT THEIR OWN EXPENSE, take all of these 314 kids out to dinner at Fuddruckers in Caguas one Friday or Saturday and demonstrate to them that they are important and they MATTER.

Actually, doing the VERY LEAST was the reason why these kids and teachers protested in the first place.

Well, that's all folks! Until next Friday.

Keith

For motivational speeches, conferences, media requests and other things such as eating disorders, you'll have to contact someone else. My only qualifications for writing a weekly column are based solely upon having a lot of free time, unlimited Internet access and very little else.