NotiPR :: That's All Folks! :: "True Dads" Do NOT Accept OR Contribute To A Week In Puerto Rico With 21 Dead, 3.8 Million Wounded

12.17.04

"True Dads" Do NOT Accept OR Contribute To A Week In Puerto Rico With 21 Dead, 3.8 Million Wounded

By Keith W. Tyras Romanello 2004: 10.22 10.29 11.5 11.12 11.19 11.26 12.3 12.10 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

Like most people, each and every Monday morning, I wait to see the number of DEAD and WOUNDED as a result of a typical weekend in Puerto Rico. I am always disappointed, saddened and left numb by what I read and disgusted that the people in power let it continue with a couple of decades of ineffective strategies. This past Monday I read these articles on ENDi.com and PrimeraHora.com, "Asesinadas 21 personas en la última semana" and "Registrados once asesinatos en el fin de semana." When 21 people are murdered in one week in Puerto Rico with 11 of those events occurring in the course of a short weekend, 3.8 million people are DEFINITELY wounded as well -- seriously wounded.

If by 2025, the problems facing Puerto Rico are as "GOOD" as they were in 1985, things will still be at a level unacceptable by anyone's standards. While things have gotten progressively worse in the past 20 years, don't forget -- things were VERY BAD back then. Only by comparison do the 1980s seem like the good old days.

It's as easy to sit back and blame the people in power for their failure to turn things around as it is difficult to think about each death and the grief and misery so many are personally experiencing as the result of losing people they loved so much.

As Puerto Rico mourned the loss of Antonio R. Barceló Jiménez, his daughters and many others these past days during ChristmasTIME or any other TIME -- it's ABOUT TIME someone did something -- something BIG!

There are only so many wounds Puerto Rico can endure before the population of Orlando, Florida and other cities in the U.S. double in size with Puerto Rico's greatest natural resource -- the resource the 'people in power' have inadequately represented and protected.

There are only so many wounds Puerto Rico can endure before the majority of Puerto Rican family photo albums resemble old front covers of "El Vocero."

What Puerto Rico needs is a "Secretary of Humanity" to help -on a daily basis- those affected recover in a healthy, positive way from all the grief experienced. The person who would head such an agency along with their team would attend every funeral and visit every hospital bed and prison cell, extending the full resources of the Government of Puerto Rico to those who are experiencing the worst times of their lives.

When a son, brother, daughter, sister, grandparent, aunt, uncle, mom, dad or anyone else are killed, wounded or disabled, the team from "Humanity" will HELP each family to do A LOT more than just survive.

The daily press releases -AND I DO MEAN DAILY- from "Humanity" and access of these families to the media can and will link all the common root problems that caused these crimes together and finally, the ROOT problem will be addressed and AS A TEAM reduced to an acceptable level.

When I read the usual excuses offered as to the reasons why the WEEKLY crime WAVES occur, I have to really wonder how many people actually listen anymore.

And don't forget that when you link each week's crime WAVES together it doesn't matter if you are reading today's newspaper or one from 20 years ago -- IT'S ALL ONE BIG continuous WAVE that has NOT yet officially ended.

When 400 people are arrested in an "operativo" -- that's the SUPPOSED reason why 20 are murdered the following week OR when a BIG SHOT gets whacked at a Home Depot -- that's the SUPPOSED reason why 20 are murdered the following week, etc. etc., etc.

The truth is that there are ALWAYS 20 people murdered each week either by someone using a gun, a knife, an alcoholic beverage or their hands.

If you want to get a fairly good idea of how many people in Puerto Rico are good, decent, drug-free, alcohol-RESPONSIBLE people, just take a look at the results of a recent ENDi.com poll:

Question: ¿Teme usted ser víctima de un acto delictivo? / Are you afraid of becoming a victim of a criminal act?

89.2% answered that they WERE afraid.

This tells me that the OVERWHELMING majority of people on the Island who ARE afraid are definitely NOT the problem. The problem is the other 10.8% who are NOT afraid.

Usually the WORST people who do the WORST things are NOT afraid of anything -- they are either too STUPID and/or have been VICTIMIZED at some point in their life by a parent or parents who did not raise them correctly. THAT'S THE PROBLEM!

Focusing ALL EFFORTS TODAY on this 10.8% of the population and the KIDS THEY BRING or HAVE BROUGHT INTO THE WORLD AND RAISE TO BECOME JUST LIKE THEM -- and by 2025, Puerto Rico's only WAVES of concern will be waves hitting the Condado hotels during the occasional hurricane.

That's something EVERYONE can LIVE with -- and isn't that the real trick to having a wonderful life, STAYING ALIVE long enough to enjoy it?

If you read last week's commentary, I wrote, in part:

«I'm still waiting for an extended TV broadcast on all the major networks in Puerto Rico to address the social problems we all face -- rather than a program CONTRIBUTING to those social problems»

"True Dads with Bruce Willis" premieres tonight on SPIKE Television. It promises to begin a process of helping families with a crash course in what REAL DADS contribute to society. If anyone is reading this from Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, here is my wish list for this Christmas, well, maybe next Christmas:

"True Dads with Jerry Rivera" PLUS many other great dads throughout Puerto Rico IN ADDITION TO "En mi País" MINUS THE BOOZE.

Getting a POSITIVE message out to every family is the ANSWER to beginning to get everyone and everything back on track -- and don't forget the "True Dads with Jerry Rivera" CD and DVD with MORE THAN a portion of the profits going DIRECTLY to the people who need the most help -- the weakest among us.

And there really is no time or reason to actually wait until next Christmas. This is something that is a TOP PRIORITY.

There isn't a doubt in my mind that our next governor realizes HE must be the very first governor to actually attack the ROOT problems we face in a BIG way in order to yield BIG results over time, insuring a legacy of accomplishment rather than a room full of "foreign" awards.

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.