Love - Mortlockese Style #1

I am not an expert on love but I do know one thing: Mortlockese Love is the real deal. It is genuine and sincere, it defies descriptions. If you're shown love Mortlockese style, you will lose yourself in its warmth, comfort and beauty that you will always find  yourself coming back for more. Incidentally, I'm not talking about eros or your typical sexual love. I am talking about the love for your own people, your family,  your relatives, your fellow islanders, your lands and your seas. It is the love of all these things combined and more. It is also the love you extend to your neighbors, to strangers and to visitors that come to your islands. It is the love of your own rich culture and traditions and unique lifestyle. It is the love that I'm afraid we will lose through our exposure to foreign customs and influences if we're not careful.
For instance, on Oneop, as on any other island in the Mortlocks during the Japanese rule, young men were selected to go and do hard labor in the phosphate mines of Angaur, Palau. Actually, they were ordered to go. They did not have any other choice. To refuse is to defy the Imperial Empire and would end up severely punished or even executed. The selection of able-bodied men to go on such a dangerous and sometimes fatal mission was not an easy feat. The local chief was given the task by the bumon cho and the kenpei tai to pick who was to go. This difficult task always tore his heart to shreds. Who would want to send his father, uncle, cousin, brother, nephew or son to die in a far away land? No one. So, out of concern and compassion for his people, the chief decided to send only those that were related to him - his brothers, uncles, cousins, nephews and sons. At least, if something happens to any one of them, only he and his family will suffer and grieve for their loss. He just could not send anybody else. However, that wasn't always the case.
During the general assembly before deployment, the chief openly wept as he read out the names of the men he had selected to go to Angaur. As he called out each name, a young man stood and went to the front. Everybody started to sobbed and wailed and cried out his name. His mother and female family members went up to him, put coconut oil and mwaramwars on him, sobbing and begging him not to go. The next name was called and the same thing was repeated. There was sadness all around. The chief continued to read off the names on the list and after a while, the people started to realize that all those young men standing up there at the front were from the same family or clan; that of the chief's. Immediately, young men from the other clans jumped up and stood in solidarity with them, volunteering to replace some of their brothers on the list. To them, it was unthinkable and unacceptable to send all the men from the same family into harm's way. Some of them were needed to stay behind and look after their womenfolk and children.
The Mortlockese Love that becomes apparent in situation like these guarantees that people on those islands live together in peace and love and harmony. It makes sure that no family or clan is deprived of its rights to live and prosper and produce offspring that will carry on their family name into the future and beyond. It is the kind of love that makes me proud to be a Mortlockese.