Homo sum for October

Each time I wear my pink T-shirt to school, I prepare for the inevitable taunting question: “Mr. V, why are you wearing pink?” Invariably, this is followed by giggles from the girls, and guffaws from the boys. The girls whisper, “He’s gay!” to one another; the boys declare in their best imitation of machismo, “He’s a homo!”

I ask the children to inquire to their priest what “Homo sum” mean, and I let the words “I am homo” trail behind on my way to my classroom. This is a game we play, in my mind, to domesticate the current malaise of homophobia that seems to afflict western civilization, or at least, the northwestern hemisphere part of the culture of which we in the Mariana Islands have chosen to be an extension.

De-fanging a social malady is a worthwhile endeavor but that will have to wait another rumination. This one casts a larger net. The Latin comedy writer Terentius (190-160 BC, Terrence, in English) was cited by Thomas Cahill in his popular book How the Irish saved civilization with this quote: “Homo sum: humani nil a me alienum puto. I am human. I regard nothing that concerns humanity as foreign to my interests.” That exemplifies to me the spirit of humanities, which GovJuan N. Babauta recently declared as a focus for the month of October.

Forty years ago, the National Endowment for the Humanities was created as an independent grant-making agency of the United States government dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities. The congressional definition of humanities include the following fields: History, Philosophy, Languages, Linguistics, Literature, Archaeology, Jurisprudence, History and philosophy of Science, Ethics, Comparative Religion, and social sciences employing historical or philosophical approaches to content such as cultural anthropology, sociology, political theory, international relations, and other subjects concerned with questions of human value.

Terentius would not be displeased with such a comprehensive list of human concerns. For the same reason, NMICH executive director Paz Younis, and Program Officer Scott Russell are wont to explain that the meager resources available for the council’s operations and programs makes the task of stretching the dollar as thinly as possible to support as many fields as broadly as attainable without sacrificing quality and comprehension, remains an annual challenge. Append the fact that the local government budget had not appropriated any amount in recent years to the council’s work adds a handicap to the effort. Nevertheless, a flurry of worthwhile activities has preceded and accompanies this month’s focus on the humanities.

The annual Teachers’ Institute, which meets a PSS requirement for teachers, and is also a rich resource of scholarly expertise in a wide range of topics from the early Latter period to present day issues of the Commonwealth. This needs to find a way of bridging the humanities of the academics and that of the general public.

This year’s program on ethics has touched on the law, governance, technology, and the environment. The third Thursday of the month’s EcoSalon conversations with Tina Sablan and her crew, clamors for broader and year-round replication. The voices of the “coalition of the willing” in civil society, such as MINA, and the grassroots aggregates like POWER and MOVER, need to be aired as relevant humanities’ concerns.

The lively panels on the law in relationship to media and culture make a great starting point for community-wide discourse that extends the analyses of scholars to the experiences of the general public. What say we to such seemingly blatant disregard of the law and flaunting of authority in the recent forbidden Bird Island fishing fiasco? More importantly, how can we conduct such discourse in the spirit of Judge David Wiseman’s recent admonition to the members of the CNMI Bar Association for civility and professionalism? May this extend to the OpEd and Letters to the Editor pages of our local papers!

Needless to add, while we are absolutely in accord with Voltaire’s declaration: “I may disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it,” the concerns associated with the humanities implies certain methods of communication that enhances efficiency and efficacy rather than discord and antipathy.

The couple, scholars and gentle people, Howard Willens and Deanne Siemer, regaled us with excellent PowerPoint presentations on the result of their visits to the Truman-to-Clinton Presidential Libraries. Already noted for their scholarly books on the NMI and Guam, the tandem at Wilsie Co. will hopefully move on to their recollection of the period past the Honorable Accord inked in 1976. Of relevant interest for immediate consumption would be their reflection on what “baby” was unnecessarily thrown out with the “bath water” in the rejection of the output of the 1995 Constitutional Convention.

In an increasingly diverse cultural makeup of the Commonwealth, in addition to preserving the central “Chamolinian” strands, we must now add awareness and affirmation of the accretions of other Asian understandings into the Marianas stew.

As for my students, we have some ways, ancient and recent, to learn what being “Human” means so that they too, can declare: “Homo sum” beyond their homegrown prejudices!

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Vergara is a Social Studies 6th grade teacher at San Vicente Elementary School