Throughout my life, I personally have never met a person that I could not learn something! I also find that there are people who cannot learn from anyone. I see this in the letters on many topics from land, citizenship, island “guest,” education, race, etc. etc. The list goes on and on and it can become a negative discussion. We all have beliefs that are important and many need to be held onto for culture and human rights reasons.
Remember that one person is not better than another; people are just different. This difference needs to be understood, respected and appreciated to expand our knowledge.
There is always competition between people and that is a fact of life! Competition with respect makes people/teams better. For example, consider: sports, education, business, legislation etc. With no competition growth and change are difficult. The people who are prepared to compete with others, even within their own families, are the ones that make a difference. These differences may be viewed as positive or negative. It really depends on the specific person doing the evaluating.
Another truth: a person who can learn from others has a competitive advantage over people who cannot learn from others regardless of their education level or life experiences. If I can learn from you and you cannot learn from me, I gain your knowledge while you gain nothing.
It is my hope that we the people of the CNMI can learn from each other regardless of who we are and keep our communications positive and focused on improving our lives. We need to help each other because our government is failing the people! The people need to work together to overcome our problems. Cooperation, synergy and respect between different people to solve problems might be helpful.
We all live together on these beautiful islands. Let’s make the most of our opportunities to obtain a good life for all.
FRANK STEWART
Capital Hill, Saipan
