NotiPR :: That's All Folks! :: Tonight Will Define Puerto Rico

12.31.04

Tonight Will Define Puerto Rico

By Keith W. Tyras Romanello 2004: 10.22 10.29 11.5 11.12 11.19 11.26 12.3 12.10 12.17 12.24

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

Well, it's another New Year's Eve and in a few days we will all find out how much, as a community, we have improved in 2 key areas that clearly define a society. By Monday morning after the dust settles and the news media begins reporting the actual totals of people shot on purpose, shot astray, stabbed, beaten or murdered "accidentally" with one-too-many alcoholic beverages -cleverly concealed but foolishly conceived- within a couple of tons of steel, glass and rubber traveling as fast as a tsunami, we will ALL know if the "tren" we are all on is on the right track or if it derailed before it began to move.

I am very hopeful that everything humanly possible has been done to prevent people from celebrating the beginning of 2005 by firing their guns into the air or drinking an alcoholic beverage or two or fourteen and getting behind the wheel of a motor vehicle.

I am also hopeful that I will shortly win a few million dollars in the Lottery and by early spring, Jennifer López will come to her senses and realize that it is me who she has always loved.

Being hopeful, unfortunately, isn't always being realistic.

I definitely applaud the fact that 1,300 people have been ticketed and/or arrested in the past month for drunk driving and that there are countless campaigns against stray bullets. I'll settle right now for no one actually dying over the holiday weekend. That's something that IS absolutely possible.

If however, too many are killed this weekend, more than most weekends and these deaths are a result of "balas perdidas" and booze, I would suggest that RADICAL, innovative steps are immediately taken so that beginning as soon as possible we can all live in a Puerto Rico where the only thing we have to fear are police officers being laid off in record number due to little-if-any violent or "accidental" crime.

The way I see it, people who shoot off guns to celebrate the New Year ALL have two things in common besides being completely irresponsible (por no decir otra cosa). One, they all go to the cine on a regular basis and watch PG, PG-13 and R rated movies with graphic images and four-letter words.

Two, NOT ONE of them wants to be thought of or called a "pendejo" or worse.

The cine is where they need to watch PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS that compete with the content of a movie, telling and showing things like they are.

Instead of putting a band-aide on a gunshot wound, the PSA calls these people who are completely irresponsible EXACTLY WHAT THEY REALLY ARE!

Then expand the PSA campaign to "men" who beat the crap out of their women, "men" who like making babies and then abandon them, leaving them to be raised by a single-mom, and "human beings" who get behind the wheel of a motor vehicle "drunk" and ruin the lives of too many other human beings.

To those who would automatically dismiss such a campaign of STRAIGHT TALK, I would suggest getting the opinions of those people who were killed by a stray bullet or a drunk/drugged driver. Oh, that's right, you can't -- THEY'RE DEAD! I'll bet that they or anyone who loved them would NOT object to PSAs with some GRAPHIC CONTENT even if they ran in newspapers and on local television and radio stations.

When this weekend passes and 2005 is in full swing, everyone in Puerto Rico will know faster than a gubernatorial election if Puerto Rico has any kind of a BIG future or if things are pretty much over.

Hopefully this Sunday when Puerto Rico loses an "A" and we once again have a "GOBERNADOR" who FOR THE FIRST TIME in a generation, has the mentality and compassion to TELL IT LIKE IT IS because HE lives in the REAL world, understands the REAL problems, because HE IS REAL and has the GUTS to attack the INCREDIBLE problems -we have all inherited over the past couple of decades- in a BIG way -- THINGS WILL GET MEASURABLY BETTER, FAST.

While I support Aníbal Acevedo Vilá 100% as I would if Pedro Rosselló had won -- to NOT support our governor 100% by attempting to help in any way we can, either by helping our community, sending ideas and suggestions to our governor or actually coming up with something that works for everyone in a BIG way when implemented is to NOT support Puerto Rico 100%.

It doesn't matter to me if any governor goes down in history as a great governor with the help of many citizens -- what matters to me is that by supporting our governor 100%, it is IMPOSSIBLE that Puerto Rico will go down in history as the "Shinning Ghost Town of the Caribbean."

You're Not Dreaming ... It's Puerto Rico ... And it's STILL currently a NIGHTMARE for too many.

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.