The Tides of Change, a Novel by @rodeo670: Part 3

This is the story of Jordan Dela Cruz, a USMC Iraq War veteran who comes home to Saipan and becomes a History teacher to help the next generation break free from the shackles of the cultural generational poverty mindset, which keeps the status quo alive and keeps the people of the CNMI disempowered and believing that nothing will ever change.

Read Part 1 HERE
Read Part 2 HERE

“Actually, Hannah, yes, there is,” Jordan replied. “Do you know what a petition is?”

Hannah hesitated. She knew she had heard that word before, but she was having trouble recalling what it was. She gave some thought to it, but before she could answer Jordan’s question, another student answered the question for her.

“Mister, isn’t that when you get a bunch of people to sign something that tells the people in charge that you want something specific to happen?” he asked.

Jordan smiled at Kyle and said, “Yes, Kyle, that’s basically what it is. If you guys really feel that strongly about my suspension, I encourage you all to get together and write a petition, explain my situation to your fellow students here at school, and get as many of them as you can to sign it, and then turn it in to our Principal. Before you commit to doing that, though, I want you to know that it doesn’t always work, and when petitions aren’t effective, there are other ways of bringing about the change you desire. You all have my email address, so let me know what happens. If your petition doesn’t work, we can get together outside of school and come up with another way. Would you guys be willing to do that?”

The classroom erupted with a resounding “YES!” from all of his students. Jordan was filled with so much joy, knowing that his students cared enough to do this to help him out. Before he knew it, tears were falling from his eyes.

He quickly wiped them away and said, “Sorry about that. I’m just so happy right now knowing that I have this much support from you kids. You don’t know how much that means to me! I love being your teacher, and I really wish they weren’t doing this to me right now. Now more than ever, you need to stay strong and push through to the end. I know you guys can do this. I believe in you. Each and every single one of you has so much potential. If you wanted to, you could be the Governor of the CNMI someday! You guys are the future of the Marianas. Just think about that; one of you could be that person who takes us out of these dark times and brings about a better life for everyone here. The possibilities are endless with you kids!”

“See, Mister?” Mike said. “That’s why we’re willing to fight for you! Chris wasn’t lying when he said that you were the best teacher we have. Everyone else looks at us like we’re just kids and they treat us like we’re just cattle that they have to push through the system to get paid. But you, Mr. Dela Cruz, you look at us and you see our potential for greatness. This whole time everyone’s been saying that we’re just kids and we can’t do anything about anything that’s going on around us, but you came along and showed us that that wasn’t true. You believed in us, Mister, and because of that you changed the way we see things. It’s because of you that we started to care!”

Chris chimed in, “Yeah, bat, that’s so true, Mister! Even my own parents told me that I’m never gonna be anything in life, so that’s why I act the way I do. But leche, I started taking your class and now things are different! You’re the first person who’s ever told me that they believe in me, Mister!”

“You inspire us all to be better than the rest of our peers,” Hannah explained. “We love having you as our teacher. There’s no way we’re gonna just let them take you away from us like that! We will do whatever it takes to bring you back, Mr. Dela Cruz.” At this point, the tears started welling in Jordan’s eyes again because he was so moved by what his students were saying. He wiped them away again, but his emotions got the best of him and the tears continued to well up.

“You believe in us, and you’ve proved that to us so many times already, Mister. We believe in you, too, and now it’s time for us to prove it to you!” Kyle exclaimed.

The bell rang. Jordan started to put his stuff into a box as he told his students on their way out, “Thank you so much, kids. You really have no idea how much this all means to me. You guys are awesome, and I know you can do this. I look forward to seeing you all again real soon. Hang in there, and enjoy your weekend!”

As the last student walked out the door, Jordan was left on his own to reflect on what had just happened. His tears had subsided, and he wiped away what was left of them. He was in complete disbelief. He had never imagined in his wildest dreams that his class of high school kids would be so willing to fight for him like this. He headed out the door and walked down the stairs to get to the parking lot, with each step cementing his determination to continue his fight against all of the corruption that permeated the Commonwealth. He got to his car, tossed his box into the passenger seat, got in the driver’s seat and drove off with the understanding that it would be a while before he would be able to return to his teaching post at Marianas High School.

The drive down Beach Road seemed to be taking forever. Jordan usually loved the scenery of the drive down this road, and he usually didn’t mind the long drive from school, but today he was so lost in his thoughts about what had just happened, that he did not notice any of the beauty that Beach Road had to offer, and the drive seemed to be dragging on. All he could think about was how much he would miss teaching those kids, and how much their earlier words meant to him.

As he taught them, he could see that he was having a positive impact on the kids, but he never imagined that he could have affected them so greatly that they would be willing to fight for him like this. He began to think about the bigger picture, about how this suspension could actually be a blessing in disguise. What had just happened was the validation that Jordan had been needing all this time. To truly know that he really was making a difference in the CNMI, despite everyone else telling him that nothing he was doing would change anything. It was the last little push he needed to really take his fight to the next level.

What had started out as simply writing weekly Letters to the Editor was now about to evolve into an actual resistance campaign with real actions. His critics loved to tell him that all he did was write letters, that he never really took any real actions, but now he had just been handed the opportunity to silence them all. The gears began to turn in his head as he started to think of ways to protest against the corruption and injustice in the CNMI government. Before he knew it, he had not only driven all the way down Beach Road, but he had also taken the turn onto Middle Road and had driven down Marpi Road, and he was now approaching the turn to his house.

Jordan took the turn and made it to his house, parking his car in his garage after what had seemed like the longest drive he’d ever had on island. He took his box of school stuff in with him as he walked into his house and up the stairs to his bedroom. After placing the box on the floor at the foot of his bed, he plopped himself down on his bed, wondering what to do next. After a few minutes of staring up at the ceiling trying to figure it out, he decided that the first thing he should do is call his best friend Nathan to fill him in on everything that had happened. He checked what time it would be over in Virginia Beach, where Nathan was living, to make sure that he wasn’t going to wake him up with this call. It was about 1:30 in the morning, and Jordan knew that Nathan would still be up and wide awake at that time, because he was always up late, so he made the call.

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Thank you for reading! This is just a part of a chapter of the novel...I would have posted the whole chapter, but it would have been way too long and you probably would not have stayed to read the whole thing. So I decided to break the chapters up into smaller parts for easier reading on Steemit.

As you read my novel, there will be words that you don't understand...those words are commonly used in our vernacular back home in the CNMI (the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands), kind of our own special version of English, I suppose, which mixes in words from other languages. Feel free to ask me what they mean in the comments below!

If you liked what you read, I hope you will consider translating that into an upvote and leaving a comment below to start a discussion with me about my novel!

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!steemitworldmap 40.754539 lat -111.902618 long Salt Lake City, Utah local Steemian! d3scr