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GONG SHOW – 2017

rhonda@samoanews.com

My first gong of 2017 — is short & simple — the election of Trump is dangerous and scary… GONG!

We will need all the prayers we can get for the coming storm.

My New Year’s resolution for 2017 is to be a kinder more understanding human being, acknowledging my weaknesses, and praying that my strengths are found in God’s embrace.

When you have the name of a leader of the free world being shouted out while abusing and killing another human being; when you are willing to deny another human being their rights to allay your fears — unfounded or real — or to make political points; when you cannot respect another human being’s beliefs using the name of God…

I am hopeful we will survive the coming storm, but I am saddened by the loss of our innocence — “… that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”

I am a naturalized US citizen, of Chinese-Samoan-palagi descent. Once, proud to be an American, I am now questioning my place in the US world as a legal immigrant of apparently the wrong gender (female), the wrong color (brown) and the wrong descent (not Anglo). I’m a Christian and legal so I guess I am good for 2 out of 6. How sad…

What does this have to do with American Samoa?

Being in control of “our own destiny”, is not about a certain group of people, i.e. Samoans born in American Samoa. It’s about all of us who have vested blood, sweat and tears in this community. We are American Samoans, not through only descent, but through the commitment of love and respect we make to home & umu.

Have a good year American Samoa! It’s the Year of the Rooster — let’s cock-a-doodle-doo our kindness of spirit — We are fellow human beings, period.