A joyous blessing for everyone

Tirow wami yan hafa adai, fellow citizens of our Commonwealth!

The famous poet, Dr. Maya Angelou, once said that we all have rainbows in our cloud, but more importantly, she declared that we too should strive to be a rainbow in someone else’s cloud. As a result, I decided to write this piece to express my genuine and sincere wish for peace, joy, and happiness to all of us in our beautiful Commonwealth. I want to take this opportunity to wish everyone the safest and most joyous Christmas holiday season. Let us all reflect on the many blessings we have received during 2019 and then bring our own version of hope and peace for everyone in this coming year. Key in how we define what this season of Christmas really means, is our resilient and spirited fight to help and comfort those struggling to make ends meet. On that note, it is also crucial that we stay the course in our fight against the evil exploits of corruption in our Commonwealth. These two principles alone suitably define the season of Christmas.

One great thing about our people and our social ideals is our principle of “Inafa-maloek” and sense of oneness—for the sake of serving everyone who touch our lives. In other words, no matter the struggle, we always find ways to celebrate each others’ friendship and companionship.

Indeed, we have grown as a people and toughed out many trepidations throughout our history. We even endured Spanish colonization as well as German and Japanese occupations, the horridness of World War II, and still, we managed to remain stout as a people. Thankfully, the Americanization we’ve so far experienced has been favorable—although not all that perfect, we are fortunate nonetheless. So, I beseech all of us to join hands and continue to work cohesively in advancing our Commonwealth, especially in this new year. Fundamentally, let us develop solutions to assist and help all of our people, particularly the underserved. I say this, because if we defeat the evils of corruption and focus more attention and devotion towards helping our people, more opportunities would emerge—all for the sake of all people. This is also why I wanted to write this piece—to remind us all that we essentially could use this Christmas season to be more giving and less “taking.”

So, from my family and I, to you and yours, we wish you only the best this coming year. Here’s to wishing everyone the happiest, safest, and most prosperous New Year. Let’s ring in 2020 to hopefully fill everyone of our Commonwealth citizens with boundless health and comfort.

Biba CNMI and Biba Taotao tano.’

Dr. Lawrence Fejeran Camacho
Dean, Enrollment Management and Student Success
Dean of Student, University of Guam