The time to work is now

Every election year I always feel the hatred in the atmosphere—among families, friends, neighbors, and the community in general. But never have I felt it more acutely than this year. The government in crisis, the economy close to crashing, and the health care system with its face in the toilet! The animosity is growing viler every day as life begins to crumble.

The leadership is already useless. There is no doubt about that. Everyone is in agreement that not one of them, and even as a group, is adept at fixing many of the problems we face and the doom that we should anticipate if things remain the same.

But the answer is not in hating each other. There are some redeeming qualities in every member of the leadership; otherwise they would not have won and would not have been loved and respected at some point in time. And yes, we are all friends at one time and will be friends another time. The freaking island is too small for that not to happen. It is the reality of life here. However, the question now is what, as people of the CNMI, are we going to do about it? Are we going to continue accepting things as they are or are we going to stand up for what we desperately need?

There is a way to go through this without exacerbating the flaming atmosphere. We need to form a group that can form a solid plan. Members wishing to run shall commit themselves by signing an agreement to adhere to the plan. Any deviation or attempt to change the plan on their own will be cause for recall and personal liability for their payroll when in office. Never mind that the plan may or may not work. We don’t have time for that argument at this juncture. This can be worked out as time goes on with a cooperating and a committed team.

We need a team of people who are effective thinkers, negotiators, and doers. When we put a team together who can think to draw up a workable plan, negotiate well with the federal government or whoever, and will do whatever is necessary, within legal boundaries of course, to carry out the plan, then I would say we have hope for the CNMI. Otherwise, any other body—smart, intelligent, or having the Tina Sablan disease—when alone will not help. Just the opportunity for dissensions will lead to further and perhaps quicker or earlier retirement to our own graves.

I urge everyone to stop listening to individuals, in or out of the group, and listen to the plan and then select the runners. The very, very, very famous cliché “Having no plan does not constitute an emergency” is exactly where we are at now. However, we are already in a state of emergency and there is still no plan. Do we honestly think that we will survive? I beg to differ.

Fitial jokes and insults when he is not supposed to. So he is a callous joker. But we voted for him again. So what? Attacking him is not going to get us anywhere near where we should be without a plan. Just take him out, if the majority wishes to, but without a plan we will continue to slide uncontrollably downhill. Tina had the good virus but she was a maverick, having no negotiation skill. She is a poor loser and turns her back too quickly. So what? She is highly intelligent, honorable, and still a gem in the community. She is an asset. So Diego was part of the problem and left the leadership when he saw that it was sinking and didn’t want his name tarnished. So what? Just make sure he does not get into office again but he is also intelligent and has a lot of influence.

Can we stop pointing fingers now and start looking for and working on solutions? Everything that is being printed in the newspaper is really very entertaining. However, it is time to be honest with ourselves and accept that ALL OF US screwed this one up royally by participation or acquiescence. The best of us still have the opportunity to join hands and work, instead of campaigning, to drum up some plans to lead us out of this fiasco that we are in.

Oh, and by the way, to the media people: Your role in this is to stop inflaming the public! Emotions cannot solve any problems. Yes, it sells papers, but please be a part of the solution and help ALL of us out here, including yourselves! Pay attention to those who have something concrete and who offer hope and those who don’t wilt in this heat like the rest of the people of the CNMI who are waiting for miracles!