A fable
Once upon a time there was an emperor who loved clothes more than anything else. One day two swindlers came to the court and tricked him into ordering a suit of clothes made of colors and patterns extraordinarily beautiful, but they insisted that the clothes made of this cloth had the remarkable quality of being invisible to anyone who was a fool or unfit for the office he or she held.
To inspect the garments as they were being made, the emperor sent his most trusted ministers. Upon seeing no clothes being sewed, the ministers thought that because they saw nothing they were fools or unfit for office, but pretended to see the clothes anyway. Even the emperor failed to see any garments but was afraid that he too might be considered a fool or unfit for office if he spoke the truth. So he pretended to see the clothes as had all his ministers before him.
On the day of a great procession, the emperor undressed and put on his new clothes and marched proudly before all the townspeople. Though they saw only a naked emperor, the townspeople also pretended to see how extraordinarily beautiful were the colors and patterns. Everyone was afraid of being considered a fool or unfit for his position, and that would be dreadful!
At last a child peered through the crowd and cried, “ But the emperor has no clothes!” The mother tried to hush the child, but then she looked again. “Oh, no!” she said. “Can it be true?” Everyone began to whisper what the child had said. Then they all began to cry out together, “But the emperor has no clothes!” The emperor heard them, and his ears burned bright red. He knew that they were right, but there was nothing he could do. And so the emperor lifted his head higher still and kept on walking.
Even if he had no clothes, he would still carry himself as an emperor should. And his ministers followed him, looking even more dignified than before, carrying in their hands a flowing robe that did not exist.
This has always been one of my favorite fairy tales, but as an adult I see a different truth in it. Like the child in the story who saw what everyone else in the village refused to see, I feel compelled to tell “it” as I see it.
If only that “damn” Asian recession hadn’t happened, we would still be economically viable. Tourists would still be flocking to Saipan, the hotels would be full. If only the non-resident workers wouldn’t work for such cheap wages salaries would be higher. Etc.
If only the “damn” garment industry hadn’t given the CNMI such a bad name in the U.S., we wouldn’t be fighting Congress for our right to control immigration and minimum wage. Always “if.”
Daily we are repeatedly told that the fault lies not within ourselves, but from external forces over which we have no control, and until those external forces change and favor us again, the CNMI is in for hard times. The emperor and all the ministers tell us this. So it must be true! But as Cassius told Brutus: “Men at some time are masters of their fates: The fault , dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings.”
For fear of being considered a fool and unfit for my position, I believe that the fault for our dilemma lies within ourselves, and we could correct the problems if we would only tell ourselves the truth. Is there a child somewhere that we can ask if he sees any clothes on the emperor?
