I came to St. Maarten from the beautiful island "Aruba Ariba", my place of birth. I am happy and thankful to my place of birth, where I received my formal education, acquired my MAVO IV diploma after which completed a year of college at the "Univeridad di Aruba".
Because of my young age my parents were not ready for their baby to leave their nest, hence I was allowed to leave that nest after celebrating my 18th birthday and travelled to St. Maarten on August 15, 1975.
I am thankful for being here because St. Maarten helped to further develop me from a personal point of view and afforded me opportunities that I never imagined. I was privileged to take part in a 4-year public sector managerial level course which I completed with 12 others successfully. I was honored to be WICU"S leader for 9 consecutive years, I gained self confidence and overall general knowledge. For these reasons and more, I salute and love St. Maarten. I will always be thankful. In discussing upcoming St. Maarten Day and questioning born here St. Martiners questions like why they are not flying the flag for instance, many would respond that there is nothing to celebrate because they feel like second class citizens in terms of the treatment of Government. My views are completely opposite.
In my humble opinion, the political establishment should not play a role in terms of us celebrating the country of St. Maarten. We must express our dissatisfaction of Government’s performance by applying the power of the election ballot at the voting polls at next election and every other election thereafter. St. Maarten must be celebrated for the history, its natural beauty (whatever is left of it) , its culture, our forefathers, it’s beautiful beaches, the white sand. Please celebrate St. Maarten.
I am noticing more cars and homes decorated with h the colors of the flag, very encouraging. Sadly though there are many business who don’t have the St. Maarten flag up, that is to be expected I guess because most business are owned by foreign investors whose main purpose for being here is to make profit! Equally sad that I am not seeing on Government offices, constructed and subsidies building and offices don’t have the flag hoisted. Case and point: there is none on the building of the department of labor and social affairs; Vromil, L.B. Scot Sports Auditorium; Raul Sports Complex; Jose Lake ballpark, I hope this not repeated next year. Lead byexample.
Allow me to make some suggestion for next year and beyond:
St. Maarten Day celebration especially in terms of the showing of the flags should run from October 11th to November 11th or to November ending. All Government offices should be given flags to hoist.; celebrations should run for at least 3 weeks. Statia celebrates Statia Day for 2 weeks; any organized
St. Maarten Day parade should be exclusively for St. Martiners not a display of the melting pot of nationalities. The focus must remain on St. Maarten! Organize that on some other day than on
St. Maarten Day.
Be proud to be a St. Mariner, love and respect your county your home, the friendly Island. Go out and celebrate the day. God bless St. Maarten and its people.
Happy St. Maarten Day
Patricia Pantophlet