This senseless murder did more than take away a father and husband — it robbed the Ballesteros family of life’s most precious moments and of the good things in life to come. One such precious moment would have been the Christening of Efren and his wife Adelaida’s five-month old son, Junior, which was scheduled for this Sunday. Efren won’t be there for Junior’s baptism, or his first birthday, or his graduation, or his wedding day. Efren will not be there to nurture his children and to help guide them. He will not be there to offer fatherly advice, or to encourage his children to do their best, or to discipline them when they do wrong. Our Christian faith tells us Efren will be there in spirit, but are these words comforting enough for a grieving widow and children? How will they make ends meet now? Who will provide for them? What will happen to them now?
My brothers and sisters, what is becoming of our small, close-knit community? Many of you who are my age and older remember the days of growing up here, where we all knew each other, and we kept our doors open to welcome our friends and neighbors day or night. Those days are long gone. Today, we make sure that every door is locked, and for extra security, we had to install metal grills on our windows, including the tiny bathroom window, and for additional security, we adopt a pack of boonie dogs and keep them hungry in hopes that they will maul anyone who comes near our property. Many of us do more than build fences around our houses — we add barbed wires to the tops to help keep intruders out. In this sense, we have set up homes that are modeled after prisons, and we must live like prisoners in our own homes if we are to feel safe.
I am getting sick and tired of criminals running rampant in our society and preying off of the innocent, and have grown weary of weak jail sentences that let criminals off with a slap on the wrist. Why aren’t career criminals and murderers kept in prison where they belong? When it comes to crime, do we continue to forgive and forget, or do we start realizing that retribution is just as important as rehabilitation? How do we really know that murderers will not kill again? Because a parole board feels they are better now? While we think about giving murderers a second chance in life to walk the streets again, will the victims who were murdered get a second chance in life as well?
I do not want to hear any sad stories about how criminals were abused as children, or how they were neglected, or how their ice or alcoholic addiction drove them to commit atrocities like murder. Such callous criminals blame their troubled lives on everyone and everything, but they forget to blame the most important person responsible — themselves. We are given the freedom to make decisions, and each decision we make creates a ripple effect in our society. Do we choose to work hard to pay our bills and provide for our family and be good law-abiding citizens, or do we choose to cheat, steal, and even kill to get what we want in life? The choice is ours and ours alone to make, and as humans, the path we take will define where we stand in society’s eyes, and as Christians, it will define where we stand in God’s eyes.
We need stricter laws that severely penalize career criminals and violent criminals, and we need judges who are not afraid to throw the book at them. If you are going to take someone’s life, then be prepared to rot in jail, with no chance of parole. Life is precious, and it is sacred, and it must be protected at all costs.
I want to thank the fine men and women at DPS who are more often criticized than lauded for their bravery and service to our community. Thank you for patrolling our streets, and for responding to our calls when we are in danger, and for giving your best despite being under-funded and often overworked because of a shortage of personnel.
In closing, I humbly ask for our community to come together to do more than offer condolences to the Ballesteros family. I am asking that a fund be set up for the family by the Catholic Church or a non-profit organization so that we may make monetary and in-kind contributions to the Ballesteros family. Let us send a clear message that our entire community mourns the loss of Efren, and that we are here to help them in their time of need.
May God bless you Efren, and may God bless your beloved family.
ED PROPST
Dandan, Saipan
