Notch on your belt (masawan omw fa)
It isn’t often that I get to participate in a debate between candidates for a seat in U.S. Congress; in fact, I’ve only ever done it once and that was just recently (a little over a week ago) in the U.S. Delegate Debate hosted by the Saipan Chamber of Commerce. Overall, I think the audience got what one might expect from a highly publicized exercise in rigid speed-dating with bachelors and bachelorettes (numbers one through five) trying to win the hearts and minds of the CNMI people through a series of timed responses meant to gauge our respective hearts and minds for the people of the CNMI.
No doubt each of us presented ourselves the best we know how and, if I’m being honest (at the risk of sounding too self-aggrandizing), I believe more than ever that I made the right decision with entering the race because I bring a kind of representation for the voters which is markedly different from the others. I hope that was evident from the so-called debate. Still, it is fair to say that each of us suffered through some cringe-worthy moments—perhaps due to brain fog and, in some cases, due to political clichés that border on patronizing, if not insulting. For the sake of the CNMI, I hope each of us is able to self-reflect and acknowledge what those might be for ourselves and make adjustments going forward. It would run contrary to my sense of civility to point out the specifics for the others, so I won’t except to say again that my fellow candidates are not representative of me—we bring a different set of perspectives and experiences to the table—and I’m glad I get to bring another type of choice to the voters. It is safe to say also, that we can all take “perfection” off the offering table. Still for emphasis, I personally do not want to be represented on the national stage in the manner with which my fellow candidates have shown thus far.
As for me, I’ve been beating myself up over why and how I couldn’t respond in a manner befitting my general knowledge and beliefs on certain questions to topics that I feel strongly about. Specifically, as an example, it feels a bit embarrassing (particularly as a self-proclaimed educator) to be asked a question relating to education and not be able to grasp my thoughts well-enough in the moment to utter a coherent response at least not to any degree worthy of my degree in education of all things. The time-crunch was frustrating. In retrospect I think it was a matter of trying to respond from the perspective of a wanna-be politician as opposed to a seasoned educator who might have said that the best thing our politicians can do for our educational institutions is stay out of them. More specifically, our delegate needs to facilitate federal programming and funding for education, but then step back and let the educators educate. I’ll chalk it up to a lesson learned though I stand behind my attempts to say that our educational efforts need to hold meaningful ties with our workforce development.
I had a moment too on a question relating to how as delegate I might be able to help veterans to which I rambled on about my frustrations and typical lamenting about the plight of veterans and lack of sufficient care forgetting to acknowledge a “little-agency-that-could” and its current efforts to help veterans as we speak. The Center for Living Independently through the efforts of their small, but committed staff have managed to link up with a federally funded program that can pay for caretakers of eligible veterans with disabling conditions. More specifically, it can pay (a livable wage I might add) to spouses and the likes already providing care for their veteran family members essentially killing multiple birds with one stone including, but not limited to ensuring loving care for our veterans in need and allowing an oft forgotten group of family caretakers to be contributing members of our community’s workforce. So, it’s programming like that which our delegate should support and/or facilitate.
Speaking of clichés, hindsight is 20/20 and I’d like to think I could have presented a better version of myself in those moments, but the simple fact is that “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man” (Aristotle).
My unlikely, if not unorthodox, lead up to and now run for U.S. Congress started out with me wanting to be a better version of myself and to give back in return. For those who may have followed, my “cockamamie scheme” was to run for Congress if I could lose “52 lbs (because I’m 52 years old, of course)” in a relatively short amount of time and, to everyone’s (including my own) surprise, I managed to lose (and am presently see-sawing) between 58 and 56 lbs down from where I started. Someone jokingly (funny, not funny) pointed out that I had essentially been walking around with large sac of rice for all the time leading up to losing the weight. Coincidentally, we were also asked a question on the topic of nutrition at the recent debate to which I will say again that our general population needs to be better educated on the issue of nutrition and healthy living. I feel terrible that I, given the privileges of knowing and being taught better, have been such a bad example on this front, but again… new waters, new man.
As for the title of this article, Americans use the idiomatic expression of “notch on your belt” when referring to some kind of new accomplishment or experience. The islanders I grew up with use the expression of, “masawan omw fa”—loosely translated, “the fill on your fish string”—referring to the practice of threading fish on a string (usually around your waist) when catching fish—the idea being that each new fish is a new experience in and of itself. I can’t help, but entertain myself and chuckle at the thought of and correlation between the figurative notches on my belt—the debate and my candidacy for Congress being examples—and the literal notches from having poked new holes (four new ones to be exact) on my belt to keep my pants from falling down. To be honest, I’m not sure which of the notches make me feel more proud.
I’m a fisherman by nature and am hoping, against all odds, to reel in the trust and confidence of our voters in November, so perhaps the next big fish on my string will be the actual seat of the CNMI delegate to U.S. Congress. Please consider a vote for RAYPHAND this coming election.
Jim Rayphand is a former director of the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation and Northern Marianas Protection and Advocacy Systems Inc.
