Animo CNMI!

There’s no surprise about the economic challenges we are facing. And it should not be a surprise that as much as we are experiencing, there’s still some sacrificing ahead. These once prosperous islands have taken two or three blows to the stomach. We are now on one knee.

One can understand the prevailing mood and talk around the islands that ooze negativity, doom and gloom. It’s not getting better fast enough. No one is ever satisfied, especially when we’ve had it better.

This type of talk that repeats over and over starts weighing down on everyone and adds to our inability to see the forest instead of the big trees we are lost in—so much so that even a slight gain or an incremental step toward improvement is met with, “So what! Look at all the other problems.”

We instead want to look at things beyond the obvious. We want us to look at the long and proud history of what it means to be the Northern Marianas, one might say the most self-sufficient and successful of all of Micronesia to date.

Look at our history: The Micronesian people are warriors from a long line of survivors, people who are so much more in tune with the environment that environmentalist should take a lesson here.

We’ve been through hardships before: super-typhoons, power outages for weeks, water shortages… and guess what? We toughened up and survived! Unlike many other disaster-hit communities in other parts of the world, the people of the Marianas know how to bounce back with little help from the outside.

Now some may say that this hardship is different because it deals with our economy and our workforce. It’s going to take everyone to change this. We’re in this economic downturn together, and to keep livelihoods, families and businesses afloat, we need to change our mindset from LOSERS to SURVIVORS.

We recently read another chapter of Lino M. Olopai’s book, The Rope of Tradition and it made us proud to be a part of Micronesia. No matter how hard we think life is today, these islands have had it worse. The people here have always relied on family, friends, and the local network to help out.

Let us not be like the crabs in the basket. As one starts to climb out, the others jump on its back and bring that crab back down. Let’s change this outcome.

In Spanish, the word “Animo” means to encourage, to liven up, to cheer. This word has been used to motivate people to get to work. Animo means pull up your sleeves, wear comfortable clothes, get the tools out, and let’s get to work!

To everyone in the CNMI, as hard as it is, let’s give constructive criticism and encourage each other. For change to work, don’t try to change the world around you. Instead, change yourself and the world around you will change.

Ghandi said, “You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.” Let us not lose faith in the CNMI.