On being a community

Two friends were out on a lake in a rowboat. One took out a small hand drill and began to drill a hole in the floor of the boat. His friend was flabbergasted. “Are you crazy? What are you doing? You will make a hole in the bottom of the boat. The water will flood in and the boat will sink. We will drown!”

The man with the drill replied: “Don’t worry. I’m just drilling the hole under my seat!”

What the driller forgot and what we must always remember: All human beings are interconnected at the deepest level. What happens to one happens to all. When one person is hurt, every person hurts. When one person prevails, every person prevails.

Too often we forget we belong to the great “family of man” and as such must assume responsibility as a member. One of the “golden rules” is: We must not separate ourselves from the community. The community is you and me.

Shortly after World War II—not long after his release from a Nazi concentration camp—Pastor Martin Niemoller, a German theologian, said: “In Germany, they first came for the communists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Catholic. Then they came for me. By that time, there was no one left to speak up.”

I often ask myself what is happening to us today—this beautiful chain of islands with pristine beauty, with its friendly and fun-loving people. After overcoming centuries of foreign domination and humiliation, we sprang into an economic boom in only a handful of years that many other people envied. But today we seem to have lost our direction. We know our problems. We know the solutions to them. But for some unfathomable reason we lack the will to implement the solutions and once again regain economic stability. Why?

Calvin Coolidge, President of the United States in 1924, once stated: “Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education alone will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan “Press on” has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”

The saddest thing about what is happening to us today is even though we are on a roller-coaster down slide in our economic life, we still insist on not working together. Look at the Administration and the Legislature. They cannot agree on passing a budget for three times since last year. Each feels that he knows better. Each wants his way and each is refusing to sit down and talk and talk until the matter is resolved. Where is the “community” in their attitude?

Meanwhile we are begging for a postponement of the federalization act for another 180 days. What good will that do? Don’t you think Washington is watching and smiling at us seeing how we fight with each other? Tell me bluntly: Why can’t the two groups sit down face to face and hammer out a budget? Stop the backroom jockeying! Don’t’ send letters to each other. Talk directly to each other. Damn it! Lock yourselves in a room and don’t come out until a budget is in your hands!

We are a community that is simply an extended family. Isn’t that what we are always preaching when someone insults us? Aren’t we screaming that this is our land and these are our customs? If that is so, then do it! Let’s get our house in order and settle our differences. Life is made up of compromises and negotiations. When are we going to learn that?

“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; but cowardice and submission, the sad choice of a variety of evils.” These are the words of Thomas Paine written on Dec. 23, 1779.

Emblazon them solidly in our minds. This truth rings out as loudly today as they did over 200 years ago. To succeed always takes great strength and courage.

Remember the United States was just beginning to be born in 1779, much as we are now. There was much turmoil and much disagreement then also. Are we any different? But look at what they accomplished—the greatest nation on earth—the United States. Can’t we also create the strongest and most beautiful islands in the Pacific area?

I quote the above because I feel that even though we are in a recession, few true austerity measures have been taken. We are still debating dilatory measures on how to resolve our economic dilemma. Where is the determination and persistence to resolve the issues? Where is the willingness to sacrifice? Few of us are willing to sacrifice. This can only mean that we don’t trust each other and do not believe in our nation very strongly. We have lost faith.

On March 4, 1933, while the United States was at the bottom of the Great Depression, 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 that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. …Yet our distress comes from no failure of substance…

“Plenty is at our footsteps 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…”

Those of you who have been elected to lead us must lead us boldly and without fear. To fear or to waver is to plunge us further into confusion and chaos. If we are not strong and determined during these trials, we may not have a “community” left after the smoke clears.

We the “community” plead with all the legislators and the Administration: Please put aside partisan politics and personal agendas. Sit down and talk to one another and resolve our problems. The solutions are right in front of us. If you show integrity, honesty, sincerity, and a willingness to negotiate, the “community” will back you and the United States will back us. Help is plentiful if we act accordingly.

We, the people, beg you to lead boldly and unselfishly. Together we can become a “community” again and regain the pride we are fast losing by begging for more money, by begging for a deal under federalization. Where lies the fortitude of our forefathers that forged these islands into the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas?

If we don’t act as a closely knit community, we will continue to fall apart and slowly lose our identity. In closing, let me repeat: “These are the times that try the souls of men…” The future lies in our hands. Our children, the future community, awaits our wisdom. Restore our hope.

As President Roosevelt reminds us: “When there is no vision the people perish.” Let us create the vision! Let us grab hold of our destiny and build it boldly. This is our community and we are responsible for it. Let us join hands and strive forward. One with many makes a community.