Focus on Education: Our Time of Need Is Here By: Anthony Pellegrino

“These are the times that try men’s souls…I thank God, that I fear not. I see no real cause for fear….By perseverance and fortitude we have the prospect of a glorious issue; by cowardice and submission, the sad choice of a variety of evils….” so wrote Thomas Paine on December 23, 1776.

On March 4, 1933, while the United States was at the bottom of the Great Depression, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States, spoke the following inspiring words in his first inaugural address: “This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly….Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself–nameless unreasoning , unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”

I quote the above because I feel that even though we are into our second year of a recession, few true austerity measures have been taken. We are still debating dilatory measures on how to resolve our economic dilemma. We seem to have lost the drive and will to make things happen. We are acting at times as an ostrich with its head in the sand. As one wit put it, the only thing that will happen to the ostrich with its head in the sand is that it will be kicked in its rear.

President Roosevelt continues: “ Yet our distress comes from no failure of substance. Compared with the perils which our forefathers conquered because they believed and were not afraid…Plenty is at our doorstep, but a generous use of it languishes in the very sight of the supply…. when there is no vision the people perish….The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit….”

“These dark days will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves and to our fellow men….Small wonder that confidence languishes, for it thrives on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection, on unselfish performance; without them it cannot live.”

From the brilliant leadership of this president, the United States regained first place as the leading economic force in the world which it still maintains today. Many people have forgotten that President Roosevelt was handicapped having suffered infantile paralysis which left his left leg partially paralyzed. Thus he conquered his personal fears as well as the fears of a nation.

I often ask myself what is happening to us today. This beautiful chain of islands, The Northern Marianas Islands, has suffered so much in its history yet has overcome centuries of foreign domination and humiliation. Then in a few short years sprang into an economic boom that many other people envy. Yet today we seem to have lost our direction. We know our problems. We know the solutions to them. But we seem to lack the will to implement the solutions and regain economic stability. Why?

Let me close with a final quote from President Roosevelt: “ We face the arduous days that lie before us in the warm courage of national unity; with the clear consciousness of seeking old and precious moral values; with a clean satisfaction that comes from the stern performance of duty by old and young alike.”

Those of you who have been elected to lead us must lead boldly without fear. To fear is to plunge us into more confusion and dissension from which we may not be able to extricate ourselves from. The trumpet of bold leadership calls you forth. The people beg you to lead boldly and unselfishly!

Strictly a personal view. Anthony Pellegrino is a businessman and member of the Board of Education.