Today I feel that role is to share some perspective on attitude. Before coming here, the picture that was painted for me of Saipan was one of the typical idyllic island lifestyle; familial comradarie, and happy easy-going locals holding up the traditions and customs they were raised with. In fact, it seemed like Saipan represented the best of both worlds in a sense due to the local “hakuna-matata” culture combined with the benefits of American influence. And to be perfectly honest, my expectations have been largely correct. Recently however, a few experiences stand out in contrast to the rest. I was driving down my street the other morning when an older man pulled out of his driveway with a young boy in the front seat with him and almost hit my vehicle. Instead of returning my wave, he followed me on my bumper to my work (a school) and in the front parking lot proceeded to scream obscenities at me through the window of his truck in front of the boy, even as other students were arriving. Eventually he left. A few weeks later at a social gathering one afternoon with some of the kids from my school, some firecrackers were set off. Immediately one of my neighbors came running up to the fence between our properties screaming all sorts of vile things (again, in front of children) because apparently the firecracker had woken his sleeping daughter. I apologized for the disturbance, and reminded him that there was no way I could have known his daughter was asleep at that time of day. He fired off another string of profanity and stormed back to his house. Then just a few days ago, I was riding with a friend who is a member of law enforcement here and a polite, courteous individual. As we turned a corner, he stopped abruptly because five or six kids were playing in the street we had just turned in to. He waited for the woman with them to corral them off to the side and proceeded. As we went by them, I gave her a friendly “thank you” wave, only to have it returned with “Watch where the f*** you’re going, d****** outsider!” Am I being naive to think that good manners should accompany the good, well, everything else about this island? I realize that not everybody acts in the immature, unwelcoming way as the aforementioned individuals. But nowadays, of all the improvements that are difficult to make, of all the challenges we face to improve our society, isn’t being polite the easiest thing we could do? Is that too much to ask? This island has its share of stress-inducing conditions like anywhere else. But let’s not forget just how fortunate we are to live here as well. We have clean beaches, sunny weather, delicious fresh fruit, great diving, and beautiful girls everywhere!
The diversity of culture is one of the neatest things about Saipan, so let’s all try a little harder to get along, waddaya say?
DAVID BUTTERFIELD
Teacher at SDA School
in San Antonio
