To: The Minister of Education, Drs. Rudolphe Samuel

      Head of the Division of Examinations, Drs. Yvette Halley,

      Research Officer, Division of Examinations, Mrs. Joan Kartokromo,

By means of this letter, we, the people who are waiting to take the naturalization exam, are kindly asking when will this exam take place?

  Some of us have been waiting for years and have no idea when the exam will be scheduled in the future.

  Whenever we contact the office the response is very rude and no official information is given to us.

  Last November 2020, a few persons were contacted to take the exam and others who had also registered were not notified. So, we would like to know what is the basis for only picking and choosing some people for this exam?

  We believe that it is the right of every non-Dutch resident who contributes to the island to become a Dutch citizen once he or she meets the requirements. One of the requirements is the naturalization exam and we believe that the right to do this exam is being withheld from us by the Division of Examinations.

  Mister, can you please request this Division to get in touch with the people who are registered and have the Division publicize the date of the next exam as soon as possible so that everyone is given a fair chance.

  Thank you for your assistance in this matter.

Name withheld at authors request

Dear Editor,

  Knops is preparing the Dutch Caribbean for being part of a nation within the kingdom. The entire Dutch Caribbean is lacking being more involved within the rest of the Caribbean nations.

  And for small territories it is not easy to get real justice within their states without other nations, because more often they are small nations knowing each other and just covering up for each other 24/7. It often happens on any small territories.

  It’s simple: give the police more power. Too often the St. Maarten police keep saying they cannot do anything – go to court. (Stop that).

  Knops is willing to take us to a test towards independence. Are you ready? Are we ready? It will be proven when the time comes.

Cuthbert Bannis

Dear Editor,

  We would like to say “thank you” to this professionally run and well organized foundation, the White and Yellow Cross Care Foundation. Every single person associated with this organization was in top notch control of performing their task, in the administration of the COVID vaccine to the public. I would go so far as to say they all were “perfect”. Having worked in the medical field all my working career; I recognize excellence when I see it, in operation. The work necessary to perform a task such as this, was visible.

  Adjectives like professional, knowledgeable, friendly, smiling, positive, organized; along with many others are all appropriate for this operation, performed in a noticeably well-cared-for, sanitary environment.

  Congratulations to all who were part of this perfectly run operation.

Laina R. and Arthur R. Macdonald

Dear Editor,

  Spinning continuously and aimlessly in infinite space and held in constant position by precise gravitational forces is a speck of rock, which when viewed from miles above its surface appears to be spherical in shape. On this speck of rock, this dot, this wretched dungeon dwell approximately 7.5 billion primates who, having evolved over six million years, have now come to be taxonomically classified as humans.

  None of the rock’s human inhabitants consciously decided to sojourn on this massive accumulation of matter called earth. We (humans) were involuntarily catapulted into physical existence by the whims and desires of individuals who we became conscious of years after suffering the trauma of us been born.

  But now that we are here – on earth – albeit against our own volition and since we are unable to reverse the accident that got us here, continuing with our struggle for existence is the punishment we must endure for the tragedy of us been born. And more births there will be and so more trauma too until such time when there is a cataclysmic change in the earth’s capacity to sustain life further.

  But until such time, if and when there will be such a time, we or some among us will continue to wrestle with the cruelty of the thought of us humans giving birth to lives that have not consented to whether they are desirous of coming into physical existence. Following our birth, the consciousness we acquire of having to return at some point in the future to a pre-organic state of rest is so overwhelming for many that it would have been best for them not to have been born.

  So, for many, would life have been more bearable or even outright enjoyable if there existed a pre-birth awareness to consciously choose whether they cared to come into physical existence? Certainly, were we in possession of this knowledge that enables us to decide whether we wish to fall into time we would have been solely responsible for the consequences and circumstances that follow from us choosing to be birthed. But since to the best of our knowledge the fact of our birth was an occurrence not decided upon by us, not even partially, how are we then to apportion responsibility for the circumstances that entail from the accident of us been born? Since the fact of our imposed participation in life was the choosing of others, how are we to resolve this ethical wrong that was committed against our person and without our approval?

  During the course of our brief existence and wanderings on planet earth, we are conditioned and educated to accept responsibility for our infractions, misfortunes, and fortunes, even though we never had and will continue to be denied the opportunity to choose whether we wish to partake in earthly existence. This could be a rather painful, regrettable, and at times unbearable way of being brought upon us by arbitrary pleasure-seeking individuals displaying a callous disregard and giving little or no consideration to the potential lifelong dread and misery their moment of ecstasy can have on the birth of life.

  It isn’t the fact of our birth – the act in and of itself – that is often debilitating for us but rather the consciousness of us having to endure and experience pointlessly all that follows from our birth up until the moment when the grave shuts up the stories of our days. We can examine all the pros as to why it would have been preferable to not have been born and still would not be able to alter the material fact that we were born – we must continue to suffer hitherto consequences that weren’t of our making. And even if we suppose hypothetically that as we continue to evolve we just might acquire the consciousness that allows us to become aware of our pre-physical form and whether we care for it to come into physical existence, how would this newly acquired consciousness shape our experiences on earth?

  We assume that in this state of pre-bodily consciousness we will be capable of deciding whether we are desirous of falling into time and acquiring a body as opposed to outsourcing the decision of our birth to individuals whose actions we are entirely at the mercy of. Since in this state of consciousness we would have decided freely and independently upon our coming into physical being, it would then be reasonable for us to be held absolutely accountable and responsible for our birth and all that follows during our stay here on earth.

Orlando Patterson