Dear Editor,
I don't usually do too much writing during the political campaigning on Sint Maarten, which since
10-10-'10 has been a record-setting amount in the Netherlands Antilles or if I should say it differently, the Dutch Kingdom. I am stating this because what Stoker wrote to you did not sit right with me. I looked up the word "stoker" and it is explained the same in English as in Dutch." A person who tends the furnace on a steamship or steam train. In this case a person who is throwing gasoline on the fire.
I have this question. What can be made of a person who throws stones and hides his/her hand? My father would tell us that makes that person a coward, because that person is not man enough to face the consequences of his/her deeds, but that person has also decided beforehand, that the person who he/she is throwing the stones at will retaliate in a manner which the stone thrower is not ready to deal with. That to me falls within the definition of being a coward.
Those letters did not sit right with me simply because of the seven hundred odd people involved. I
read the letters, saw the name Stoker, and knowing the meaning of the word, I had to read them again, because this made no sense to me. If I have the ability to help more than seven hundred people, why would I be playing games about it? Is this not telling me something about Stoker's psyche? Is this sick or selfish, or is it trying to show up the Minister of Justice. I can assure Stoker that the only thing that he has done to that Minister is that it would make her feel sad to know that there are people out there who could have contributed to the process and for whatever sick reason did not make use of her open door policy.
The English translation of the Dutch saying "Dat spreekt van zelf" is "That goes without saying", but I can assure anyone this is not the case with the government. With the government there is a process for almost everything. Taking this into consideration, I do not think that Stoker is of good will. I hope that Stoker is not a potential candidate on any political list, because with people like him/her we would be jumping from the frying pan into the fire.
By the way, how many Ministers of Justice did we have before Miss Anna Richardson? What did they do for the Justice workers? If Minister Anna Richardson was not brave enough to take that bold step and take on that Heracles task to make sure that more than seven hundred Justice workers got what is due to them, who would all of these "pundits have to blame?
When I was thirteen years old, the priest at the Anglican Church at that time said to me, "Yes. Mister backseat driver". We were not in a car so I was confused but my father was my backup, so he explained to me the meaning. He also told me to try to avoid people saying that to me in the future. So, I will say here "It is easy to be a backseat driver" (De beste stuurlui staan aan wal). Would not Stoker have been a bigger person if he/she had made use of the Minister's open-door policy and brought his idea forward. I believe Stoker would have gotten a better insight on why it was taking that long, and or why Stoker's solution would or would not work and everybody would respect each other.
Hi people, we are only 60.000 on sixteen square miles, what is with this constant ridicule of each other? Before time the school children used to be an example of how people could play together; nowadays it's gang-fight almost every day among the school children. I will go out on a limb and say it is the children becoming what they see the adults doing..
I am still of the opinion that Stoker should demonstrate maturity and make use of the Minister of Justice's open-door policy.
Russell A. Simmons
