The untimely passing of several close friends still weighs heavily on me. There were no good-byes and the news of their demise came like the anomaly of marching storm clouds on a sunny day\u2026dreary, dark and out-of-place\u2014raindrops slid off my face. If only I had known\u2014a final drink perhaps, raised with and in honor of the lives uniquely their own. Alas, in the grand scheme of all things human, mortality reigns supreme. One way or another, we all fall down, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.<\/p>\n
Like so many before them, my friends were here one day and gone the next, never to be seen again. I am reminded that our time here is limited and that death is a natural part of the human experience. Sad, but true. <\/p>\n
Maybe it\u2019s my age, but more and more I find myself pondering \u201cthe meaning of life\u201d or at least the measure of a good life and what it means to be a good man\u2014greatness measured, if you will. <\/p>\n
The late Maya Angelou said, \u201cI’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.\u201d And that\u2019s really it, isn\u2019t it? In the end, all we are left with is our feelings. And, more often than not, it is the way we feel rather than the way we think that drives us (MANDT). How often have you heard, \u201cIt\u2019s not what you said, but how you said it\u201d (T. Geels)?<\/p>\n
As advocates at the Northern Marianas Protection & Advocacy Systems, Inc., we are often asked if we can \u201cprovide training on how to work with and\/or treat people with disabilities.\u201d To the best of our abilities, we gladly oblige such requests. Our message is simple enough, \u201cTreat people with disabilities the same way you would treat anyone else and charge through barriers of discrimination.\u201d We know all too well the challenging behaviors associated with people who have certain types of disabilities, but civility remains our minimum standard for treatment of people in general (disability or otherwise). <\/p>\n
A colleague put it best when she said that this \u201cbasic human concept tends to get lost or forgotten amidst the busyness of our daily professional and personal lives. We get so immersed in the little details of our duties and responsibilities that we neglect the basics\u2014treating every individual with dignity and respect\u201d (T. Evangelista). Can you imagine how it might feel if everyone you met treated you with dignity and respect?<\/p>\n
We believe in the MANDT system for conflict resolution, which teaches, among other things, that we should \u201csupport people, not just their behaviors.\u201d\u2122 MANDT further teaches that building healthy relationships is what facilitates a culture that provides the emotional, psychological, and physical safety needed to teach new, positive behaviors that can replace the behaviors labeled \u201cchallenging.\u201d<\/p>\n
My late friends left me with a feeling that in their presence I could always say, \u201cIn this place and with these people, I am safe\u2122\u201d (MANDT). Rest in peace fellas\u2026until we meet again.<\/p>\n
For more information on the MANDT system of conflict resolution or about dignity and respect for all, feel free to contact the Northern Marianas Protection & Advocacy Systems, Inc. (NMPASI) at (670) 235-7273\/4 [tel.] \/ 235-7275 [fax] \/ 235-728 [tty] or via the web at www.nmpasi.org. (By JIM RAYPHAND)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The untimely passing of several close friends still weighs heavily on me. There were no…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[21,190,67],"class_list":["post-40328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion","tag-life","tag-natural","tag-people"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40328\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}