That Pesky “Garment Guy”

Today’s column will focus upon “that pesky garment guy”–our garment industry’s very own version of “The Cable Guy.” We all know the guy. He can be a little weird at times. He goes around “desperately” trying to be our dear friend, to convince us all that his cause is right and just, which it is, as a matter of fact.

But we quite often forget the merits of his case, because we are too distracted by his quirky personality. Some say he tends toward the evasive and cannot be fully trusted.

To be sure, sometimes he can be a little enigmatic. I have trouble understanding him at times. You might even say he works in mysterious ways.

Even some of our garment industry’s biggest supporters are not entirely comfortable with him. The other paper despises him. They call him “the apologist” for the garment industry.

The garment guy is not exactly the quintessential charmer, you see. He can be quite aggressive at times, eager to mix it up in a verbal exchange, usually through rapid-fire press releases and countless letters to the editor. He can clearly dish it out as well as he can take it.

Perhaps our garment guy should try more diplomacy. Maybe he has tried it, but it didn’t work.

In any event, I personally have no problems with the garment guy. After all, you must admire a guy who can take so much scorn, derision, and abuse.

Believe me, I know what it is like to have to endure the pressure and the stress, battling it out every day, putting yourself on the line for a noble cause: the CNMI’s sacred right to local self-government and economic security for its indigenous peoples.

Because that is what our local garment industry is all about: our people’s democratic right to local self-government and economic growth and development, so that our people can enjoy self-determination and a standard of living comparable to that of the United States. It is not about personalities or the garment guy.

We can loathe and despise the garment guy all we want. We can attack him through letters to the editor in the local papers. As U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas declared in a speech to the American Enterprise Institute: “Those who come to engage in debates of consequence, and who challenge the accepted wisdom, should expect to be treated badly.” The garment guy and I should expect that which is required of us: the political courage to speak out despite foul treatment, which goes with the territory.

But the garment guy is no “apologist,” because he has nothing to apologize for. Should the garment industry apologize for sustaining our economy in its time of dire need? Should it apologize for all the tax revenues, jobs, consumer spending, investments, and charitable contributions it has devoted to our islands over the past 15 years?

I doubt it.

Still, it might be time to replace that pesky garment guy with a gorgeous garment gal for a change.

Strictly a personal view. Charles Reyes Jr. is a regular columnist of Saipan Tribune. Mr. Reyes may be reached at charlesraves@hotmail.com