Hypocrisy rears its ugly head again

This past week we have heard arguments for and against H.R. 1466, which seeks to resolve the status of certain persons legally residing in the CNMI under the immigration laws of the United States. I am not going to discuss the pros and cons of the issue. That is being left up to the U.S. Congress to decide, but I will discuss the hypocrisy that we have been living under.

So that we all understand the same meaning of the word “hypocrisy,” here is its definition: to pretend to believe what one does not truly believe. It is a pretense of having a virtuous character, or principles that one does not truly possess.

Having resided in the CNMI since 1984, I have seen and wrestled with the cloak of hypocrisy that many of us have been wearing for many years. But now the cloak is starting to show holes in it. We pretend we don’t need nonresident workers and at the same time we do nothing to train ourselves to be the replacements.

Subconsciously many of us fear nonresident workers—we fear that they have a better work ethic, are better educated and more skillful than us. We fear that they will replace us. And as this fear grows deeper we create artificial barriers to make life harder for them.

The great British critic William Hazlitt wrote: “If you put a chain around the neck of another person, the other end fastens itself around your own. …A hypocrite despises those whom he deceives, but has no respect for himself.”

Unless we come to understand what we are doing to ourselves, how can we grow into a happy society? The chain eventually becomes tighter and tighter until we strangle ourselves.

The saddest part of this situation is that our beautiful islands have become ripped apart because of our hypocritical attitude toward nonresident workers. If we were to accept the truth, we would admit that we brought nonresident workers here not to work with us, but to work for us!

We didn’t bring them to supplement the insufficient number of resident workers. Frankly speaking, we brought them here because many of us feel superior over them and are too lazy and not willing to do the dirty work required. If we are going to work, we prefer the clean, plush managerial jobs regardless of whether or not we have the qualifications. If this is not true, then why are so many thousands of local people on food stamps?

Had we been sincere from the beginning, we would have trained our own labor force first. After that, realizing we had insufficient resident workers, we could have supplemented with nonresident workers to fill in. But that has not been the case. We deceived ourselves and now the hypocrisy is blowing up in our face.

The Northern Marianas Trades Institute is begging for students young and old, male and female, to learn a trade and become the local labor force. But the applications are few. Why? All that is required to learn a trade is the will to do so.

Another example, a large construction company for over a year has been building a road on the backside of the island starting from San Vicente. Has anyone of us seen a local worker there? Not even as a sign holder for traffic? Have any of us applied for a job there? Do you see my point?

Do we recognize the following words: “I salute and honor the flag of the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands, as a symbol of unity, love, and integrity among the cultures and people for which it stands, with equal opportunity for all, founded upon divine principals of democracy and the spiritual guidance of Almighty God.”

This is our “Salute to the Flag of the CNMI.” Let the meanings of these precious words sink in. Are we living the meanings of these words?

We prefer to ignore the ethic of reciprocity or “Golden Rule,” which is a fundamental moral principal that simply means “treat others as you would like to be treated.” It is the most essential basis for the modern concept of human rights or legal rights. The concept of “The Golden Rule” is also found in the scriptures of nearly every religion.

Let us recall the words of Abraham Lincoln spoken on Oct. 18, 1854, when he was debating the issue of slavery in the Union:

“I hate it [slavery] because it deprives our republican example of its just influence in the world; enables the enemies of free institutions, with plausibility, to taunt us as hypocrites; causes the real friends of freedom to doubt our sincerity and especially because it forces so many really good men amongst ourselves into an open war with the very fundamental principals of civil liberty—criticizing the Declaration of Independence, and insisting that there is no right principal of action but self-interest.”

On another occasion President Lincoln said:

“Our progress of degeneracy appears to me to be pretty rapid. As a nation, we began by declaring that “all men are created equal.” We now practically read it: “all men are created equal except Negroes.”

In our case in the CNMI let’s substitute “Negroes” with “nonresident workers” and the real meaning hits us.

It is not too late to correct the hypocrisy in our situation. But imposing more hypocritical laws is not the way to do it. Accept the people who have built our great islands over the years. They deserve far better treatment than we are giving them. At least respect the families with children born in the CNMI and let them live peacefully and productively here. We will not lose our identity if we plan and act accordingly.

The United States of which we are a member is a mixture of cultures and peoples. We too are a melting pot of races. Our island should be a symbol of what different nationalities can accomplish by working together. We need each other. Let us stop the hypocrisy before it tears us further apart.

The Golden Rule and human dignity must always come first. When a nation forgets this and treats its people whoever they may be as tools to cast off when not needed, it is doomed. We have already suffered greatly from much negative publicity about how garment workers were treated on Saipan in the past. Are we to continue that period of shame?

We have so much to learn from each other and our different cultures. Think of how poor and dull our lives would be if we weren’t able to enjoy the cultures of the Japanese, the Chinese, the Philippines, the American, and all the others we have here. It is because we can enjoy these our lives are much richer.

Why are we so afraid of losing our culture when many of us do not really practice or even understand it? What happens to our culture with the local people who escape to the United States to live? We could continue on to doom’s end, but we will not settle anything unless we put ourselves into their shoes and feel the emotions that they feel.

We create the future from our proper attitudes! As the late Franklin D. Roosevelt said: “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” When we are strong mentally we feel confident and proud. Let’s end the hypocrisy now! Make the field fair for everybody—nonresident and resident. We will be a happier nation for it. Have a great day!