Closing the Century with Harmony

At Issue: Attempts to rename Indigenous Affairs “Chamorro Affairs” to equal the ethnic office “Carolinian Affairs”.

Our view: It may be appropriate but why chance triggering disharmony among the indigenous people of these isles?

The greater people among Chamorros and Carolinians are the majority who have embraced the ultra-sense of harmony forging peaceful co-existence since time immemorial in these isles.

For more than a century, we have lived together as one and have worked, with a sense of maturity, for the greater good of all. This is the brightest and most rewarding legacy of leaders of the indigenous people in the century that closes after midnight tomorrow.

Like a blessed matrimony that had endured the test of time, we have worked all this century on the more significant issues affecting the collective fate of our people. Our cultural differences have enriched our livelihood and granted us a clearer vision of what lies ahead.

Through our trials and tribulations we have conquered greater heights in unison to advance the lot of both Chamorros and Carolinians. We have successfully transcended our differences by turning them into similarities. Yes, we have conquered harmony among ourselves, thus our success in forging better tomorrows in where we are today.

The challenges of the receding and impending millennium did not and will not leave much room for immaturity. And we have successfully joined hands to attend to substantive issues for the good of the indigenous people through thick and thin.

However painful our march to greater freedom from internal and external adversity, we can lay claim to the trophy of progressive harmony in these isles we call paradise. It doesn’t mean we haven’t our share of tribulations sometime bogged down in provincialism. For the most part, we’ve conquered our vices and biases in favor of better and greater things for one and all.

The NMI is a relatively incipient community in the greater American political family. In time we should be able to do away with biases that at best, delay a progressive and proactive role in our collective efforts to pave the road of the future for posterity. Albeit difficult, it is more the reason that we unite and eventually conquer greater heights so that these islands can assimilate and accept all that our country stands for since we joined the great US of A in 1978.

Let us close out this millennium with peace, harmony and pray for greater prosperity for all in the impending millennium. Felis Año Nuebo!