Random thoughts for the day

On Wednesday, June 25, 2008, we read the headline in the Saipan Tribune that our government is poised to sue the U.S. government. I could not believe what I was reading. We have been living off the generous benefits of the United States for so many years. Now with the help of so-called “private money,” we are now going to sue the same government that has been feeding, clothing and protecting us. This is being done because somebody doesn’t like the new federalization immigration law.

It is like spitting on our father for all the kindness he has given us while growing up because he will not let us do what we want. We forget the past with all the good moments and sad ones and just rebel because we cannot have our own way. Are we so stupidly childish in our attitude? Wow! It boggles my mind!

It is true the United States has made and is still making many mistakes that many people, including me, do not like. But to think that the U.S. is going to destroy our islands and its way of life is utterly ridiculous. I have read the federalization law. I strongly urge all of you to read it also.

Why doesn’t the government make it simple and tell us to do the following:

“I am requesting everyone who is native born in the CNMI to burn his/her passport in protest. We want to live like the other Pacific islands without interference from the United States. We don’t need the United States’ $1,000,000 per month to feed all the people on food stamps. We don’t need their CIP funds, DEQ funds, CRM funds, PSS funds and all the other funds they so generously give. We don’t care how much help they have been giving us and how much help in the future they will be giving us. We can survive on our own. Aren’t we proving that now with our booming economy?”

See how simple it would be to solve the problem? Why should we listen to the United States? Yes, we can stand on our own two feet without Uncle Sam, can’t we? Can we? Think about it!
But the best is that the money for the lawsuit will paid from “private sources.” I recall a passage from Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” when Hamlet says: “I smell something rotten in Denmark.” Let’s instead speak it this way: “I smell something rotten in the CNMI!” Think about it!

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What more is there to say about the fiasco at the CUC? Already all of us are fuming mad at this practical joke being perpetrated on us. I have a simple solution—Fire them all for incompetence and fraud! Bring in several good electrical engineers and a plant manager from outside and start anew. Train the workers better and make them responsible for inventory and ordering of parts. That is the only way that the CUC’s problems will ever be corrected. Believe me it can and must be done.

From my 45 years in business, I have learned that whenever a company fails, 95 percent of its failure is due to pure management. We have had poor and incompetent managers for the past 25 years. If you think I am exaggerating than why have problems been accumulating over the years? The power plant has been deteriorating over the past 25 years that I have been on this island. Machines don’t break down, people do. Think about it!

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How many of us are planning for the coming change that the federalization bill will have on our islands? Why are we so afraid of the change? Have we been so badly spoiled over the years by cheap labor? Can’t we see that the world is moving on and we must move on with it? No longer can we go back to the “good old days.” And anybody who thinks that we can go back should get their heads out of the sand or else their butts will be kicked over. Everything we possess, everything we do, everything in the universe changes. Nothing is static, not even death.

Many of us have grown up seeing only nonresident workers employed at cheap wages. This fact has been both a curse and a blessing. On one hand we have been able to build up our island to the point that it is quite modern with the assistance of this nonresident labor force. But on the other hand it has drained most of us local people of any desire to work. We placed the curse of the minimum wages around our necks like a cross till it strangled us. Think about it!

The thing that all of us must understand is that on Dec. 31, 2014, there will be no nonresident workers, with the exception of a few highly technical professions. This is the reason we must begin preparing ourselves to take over all the vacant jobs. We have six and half years in which we can learn trades and professions to assume all the jobs that will be available for us. We must have local accountants, nurses, electricians, chefs, beauticians, welders, etc. We will own our own businesses. We will recapture the loss of our economy. The person who controls the money is the stronger. And we have been losing our economy so far. But a bright new future is ahead. Think about it!

What many of us do not realize that all of the above trades and professions will afford us great opportunities for a higher income and increased happiness than we are realizing now by employing nonresident workers. It is not that I am against any outside cheap labor force, but it is time to look in the mirror and see the reflection of what it has done to us. Think about it!

With all the yapping about “this is our land, these are our customs,” do you really think they must not be earned and fought for daily by the skill of our hands and the sweat of our brows?

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I am very optimistic about the future of the CNMI and our people if we grasp the exciting future. Someone recently sent me the following quote: “The past is a ghost, the future is a dream, and all we ever have is now.” Let us embrace the future. Have faith in it!

Let’s put the Trust Territory days to rest. Let’s put the garment industry days to rest. Let’s put the cheap nonresident labor days to rest. Instead let’s lift our eyes up to the horizon and marvel at the shining bright future and embrace it for all it holds for us.

Cast away the fear of change and recognize that change is what life is all about. We, the people, will succeed if only we believe and adapt ourselves. Change is natural. Don’t fight it. Bend with it. Accept it.

Change is the only reality we have. To live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often. Think about it!