Changes! Changes! Are we coping with them?

One of the major problems we face in the CNMI today is that some of us do not want to accept the changes that face us daily. We insist that we can return to the breadfruit culture and the simple island life of say a hundred years ago. We want to cling to the days of yesterday. But sadly changes have made that impossible.

The sooner we accept the changes the faster we will bounce back.

I recall in 1958, when I was recruited as a teacher for the U.S. Navy Dependent School System in Yokohama, Japan, I flew on a military plane with propellers. Jets were not used yet. We left California, stopped in Hawaii for refueling, flew on to Midway stopping for another fueling. Finally, after 20 hours we arrived in Japan.

Several years later, change brought the jet engine to all planes. The flight was reduced to less than 12 hours with no stops except for a short one in Honolulu. Today the flight is even shorter with lots more comfort. Wow! What a change!

As a young student I recall watching television, a revolutionary novelty at that time, in store fronts because they were so expensive and scarce. My family couldn’t afford to buy one. The sets were all black and white. Programming was primitive, but I loved it. Compare that set to today’s flat plasma screens and sophisticated programming. Aren’t we happy for the change?

As a student during one summer, I worked in an insurance company sorting cards that key punch operators prepared. My job was to put them into a machine called a sorter which was about eight feet long. The machine would sort the cards. After sorting, they then were placed in another huge machine called a computer about 10 feet long where the information was stored. This was the beginning of the computer age. But great changes now have made the computer a basic part of our life today. Think of our lives without it? Yet some people are still afraid of it.

Hey, does anybody recall seeing a typewriter? I have an old one at my house and my children are amazed by it. No one uses the old-fashioned ribbon typewriter anymore. Why? Changes! I still have some music records in my house that are 78 rpm, 45 rpm, and 33 rpm. Ask any child what they are and if they have seen them. My wife threatens to throw them out, but I tell her they are museum pieces. Why are they? Changes!

Do without our cell phones for one day. Turn off all electronics for a few days. Imagine if no changes were made in medicine. So the list continues. Technology has changed our daily activities, but some people are still sleeping through all these marvelous changes like Rip Van Winkle who slept through 25 years of change and when he woke up found it difficult to adjust.

One of the most interesting sections of the Saipan Tribune is a column called “Flashback—A Look Back at Past Years’ Headlines.” There we can read brief news headlines and short summaries under dates which usually go back to 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002. When I read that column, I often get angry—angry because I see the same problems mentioned that we are wrestling with today. Why? No changes! I also want to scream, “Damn it, what the h… are we doing? Solve it!” Change! Change! Accept it. It is a basic part of life. We cannot return to former days and times nor should we want to.

Many years ago I recall returning to my hometown where I grew up and went to school. When I visited the school, I was thrilled and saddened. It brought back forgotten memories. As I walked the streets and even visited my old house in which my brother and sister enjoyed our childhood, the pleasure was short-lived. I had to move on. The saddest part of the trip was running into former friends. How they had changed and so had I. After a perfunctory meeting lasting only a few minutes, we both walked away realizing that change had made it impossible to go back.

Someone once said to me: “To live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often.” Change is the only reality we have. Everything we possess, everything we do, everything in the universe changes. Nothing is static—not even death. Change is natural! Don’t fight it. Accept it and learn to adapt to it. Consider– anybody’s greatest idea will be good for only a short time. Eventually change will make it irrelevant.

Let’s look at several problems we are facing. By refusing to accept the changes needed in ourselves we cannot solve them. We refused to accept and make changes that the impact of the demise of the garment industry would have on our economy. We felt that there would be NO CHANGE! As a result we made no plans and allowances to find substitute industries to replace it.

Consider our ridiculous situation with the CUC. If it weren’t such a serious problem it would be laughable. Yet, we refuse to change our attitude towards the problem. It could have been solved a long time ago. But why hasn’t it? We adamantly refuse to change? When are we going to stop the bellyaching and jump into reality? Changes must be made! The solution is right in front of us.

We must accept that the CNMI of 2008 is not the CNMI of the 1980s, the 1990s, the 2000s. It is the “now” that we must accept. There is no turning back. The age of cheap labor is gone. We must prepare to work ourselves. Our attitude against becoming skilled and educated people must change. Our thinking about food stamps must change. Federalization is upon us, but many of us are in denial. Our attitude against Article 12 must change. There was a time when it was useful but that time has changed. And unless we change our thinking about it also, a different kind of change will affect us. Remember the bumper stickers often seen on cars? Attitudes are our greatest disabilities! Change requires that we change our attitudes.

Accepting change and than making the changes is the only salvation to regaining our economy, dignity and pride. We must study the changes and utilize them to our advantage. Stop walking forward with our heads turned backward and with our hearts longing for what will never be again.

All of us accept external changes but we rebel when we have to change internally. To achieve lasting results we must change our minds. Unless we change, change will change us but not to what we would like it to be. Change is inevitable—for bad or for good. We win or lose by how we choose. Believe it or not—the CNMI can become a prosperous and exciting place to live once we accept the changes necessary. Tomorrow take a long look at the sun as it rises and accept the necessary changes. I have accepted the changes.