The hot-seat

By JIM RAYPHAND
Special to the Saipan Tribune

As a kid, I marveled at white people who’d go to the beach, strip down to practically nothing and purposely sit directly under the burning sun to talk and “relax.” For most islanders, unless you were fishing, a relaxing day at the beach usually meant finding a spot in the cool shade of a tree or at least taking cover in a comfortable pair of dungarees and a long-sleeve shirt. One might say that white people (i.e., “Statesiders”) like it hot, but islanders generally prefer to stay cool or at least not get burned—yet another oxymoron for half-breeds who on the one hand have an inherent knack for kicking back in the shade without making a sound and on the other, a neurotic fixation on the sun and a runaway mouth that can’t hold its tongue. Given a choice, I’d rather be fishing.

On heat of a different kind, the proverbial hot-seat comes in varying degrees of temperature depending on several factors, all of which culminate into a level of energy generated in and around it. Most of us would prefer to avoid it, but for all intents and purposes, energy is good—we need it, we’re forever trying to harness it and ultimately we can’t live without it. The key is to facilitate safe, productive levels of it in and around your general vicinity. Still, when bringing heat or fire for that matter, we need to be mindful of people getting burned. Think of the hot-seat like an old, brick fireplace in the dead of winter (not exactly an islander’s analogy, I know). Without it, people freeze to death, but if it’s poorly built people get burned. Ultimately it matters, the substance of the mortar, bricks and other materials holding the framework of the chimney together. It also matters the kind of fodder being used to feed the fire. The point though is that heat is good and oftentimes necessary, so people should tend the fire.

NMPASI’s advocates are no strangers to the hot-seat; in fact, the job requires that each of us sit in it from time to time. And, though people are far less contentious over the rights and needs of individuals with disabilities than they use to be, the job still requires that we turn up the heat from time to time—even on ourselves. That’s not to say that anything is wrong, but rather that it keeps us from doing things wrong. With forest fires nearby, we have to be ready to mitigate effects of the changing winds. So, we might bring the heat sometimes, but we can take it too.

For people with disabilities, it took some “advocates from hell” to light societal norms on fire in order for them and their issues to be brought to the forefront of America’s consciousness. Like all other civil rights movements, it took some collective thinking and an activist spirit to bring about the change that was so desperately needed (i.e., schools, businesses and the community at large finally opened their doors). No doubt there has been change for the better, but some things remain the same and “those who don’t know history are doomed to”—history, history, history, history, history, history, history, history, history—“repeat it.”

Our islands too have changed radically in recent years and we can no longer afford to simply kick back in the shade while things burn down around us. As a community, we’ve been rocked by corruption (at least the appearance of it) and a criminal element that preys on the helpless for far too long. Most recently, we’ve endured the possible killing of an old man, numerous abuses and/or rapes of children, so-called men beating on women, and, bless their souls, the kidnapping of two little girls. So the question is, what do we do about it?

Unfortunately, I don’t have the answer, but for sure we can’t rely on doing the same things over and over again hoping for a different outcome. Too many of us are content to sit idly by with our handy caps in tow—“in a state of quiet desperation,” if you will. But there are others: unassuming activists in the grass roots, the political fireballs in the mainstream and/or various heads of families who keep the wood piles high even in the summer months.

We can choose to lead, follow, or get out of the way, but maybe, just maybe, we will all “become the change that we seek in world” (Mahatma Gandhi) and keep the fires burning.

For more on the history of the disability-rights movement, please feel free to contact the NMPASI office at (670) 235-7273/4 [voice] / 235-7275 [fax] / 235-7278 [tty] or contact us on-line at www.nmpasi.org.

Jim Rayphand is executive director of the Northern Marianas Protection & Advocacy Systems Inc.
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