A lot of friends who like to read Twenty Five Years Ago like to ask me to write things or times when we did not have certain things like airplanes, electricity, ice or vehicles. And believe me I love to write about those times which I consider so romantic and idealistic. So it is with pride that I write about the good old days of this tiny fishing village when there was NO CRIME. Trust me, I could do without ice or vehicles today and in the same light I am sure most people of San Pedro are nostalgic about those goooood old days.
No crime! How wonderful it was to live back in the 1950’s and be able to leave all your laundry hanging on the clothesline in the yard without worrying of anyone stealing not even a sock, not even one of those expensive flour bag cotton underwear. To give you that beautiful feeling of living without the crime of stealing, we could go to the store at the end of the village and leave our doors wide open without fear.
Those who liked to gossip could wonder away from home for hours too, without this fear. We could sleep with our windows fully open year round and only closed them when it was mosquito season. It is a joke but the window hinges actually rusted and froze with rust due to lack of use.
Stealing is the biggest crime one can think about. There was never an armed robbery, never an assault or intrusion, never a case or rape or carnal knowledge. Never in my youth did anyone offer me marijuana, and I can understand that later on in my years (as a school principal) nobody did offer it to me either. And the list of crimes could go on with a never in front of it.
Children could play on the streets without fear of being hurt. Children could stay out at night without the fear of some psycho or maniac hurting them. Ladies could go to the dances return home at three in the morning without the fear of some maniac hurting them. Got the feeling why this place was considered a Paradise in the 50’s and 60’s? Understand now why when this Island was discovered it was considered mother nature’s best kept secret?
Some tourists who return to visit like to talk about the good old days in San Pedro when there were no telephones or television. They say they used to like San Pedro as it was back then. What they really mean is that they loved this place without crimes.
Mark my words, “If there is anything we should do as a community to bring back that happy feeling of living in a paradisiacal island, it is to try to erase crime.” We truly don’t mind (AT LEAST ME) the muddy streets when it rains, or the mosquitoes that torture us for a short while during the year. The crimes we hear about today are more worrisome. If a child accidently breaks my glass window with a sling shot, that is not a crime for me. Que viva (Long live) San Pedro Twenty Five Years Ago.
– by Angel Nuñez, Columnist
