A Prayer We Still Repeat

Dear Editor,

“On the 8th day of the first special session of the Sixth Congress of the Senate of the Congress of Micronesia in June 1975, the late John de Avila Mangefel offered a biting parody of the Lord’s Prayer. He rewrote the sacred words not toward heaven, but toward Washington:

‘Our Father, who are in Washington,
Hallowed be thy funds,
The authorizations come,
Thy appropriations be done,
In Saipan, as they are in the President’s Budget Office.
Give us this day our quarterly allotment,
And forgive us our overruns,
As we forgive our deficits.
And lead us not into dependence,
But deliver us from inflation.
So ours will be the territory, and the power,
And the fiscal authority, forever. Amen.”

The Senate laughed. But beneath the humor lay a truth we still refuse to confront. For too long our leaders have measured sovereignty not in courage, but in appropriations. Mangefel’s parody is more than a joke, it is prophecy. Fifty years later, we are still living under its shadow.

Dependence as a Mentality

The core of Mangefel’s satire is painfully simple: we have confused “nationhood” with “negotiated allowances.” We boast about independence, yet we act as though we are children waiting for crumbs from our guardian’s table. Instead of standing as equals in a family of nations, we rehearse the role of supplicant, arms stretched, waiting for someone to give us funds… the well know TT Mentality.

This dependence is not only financial but psychological. We say “we are small” as though size excuses weakness. But this is the same lie colonizers once told us to justify their rule, that BECAUSE WE WERE SMALL, WE COULD NOT MANAGE OURSELVES, OUR RESOURCES, OR OUR DESTINY. If we repeat that lie, who really governs us? Washington may send millions, but our own leaders keep us chained to the idea that without these funds, Palau cannot live.

Begging for Burdens

The danger is not only in waiting for handouts but in the bargains, we strike to secure them. When we plead for appropriations, we too often accept the hidden costs. Military bases, radar systems, and foreign interests are welcomed as “protection.” But as one of our leaders once asked: “Protection from whose enemy?” Palau has no enemies. Yet by tying ourselves to others’ wars, we inherit their enemies. In return for fiscal security, we invite insecurity of another kind, the kind that paints a target on our backs.

We cannot claim sovereignty if our greatest national strategy is to advertise ourselves as a useful pawn in another nation’s global chessboard. We cannot say we are free if our policies are written first in the Budget Office of another country, and only later debated in our Congress.

Don’t Be a Burden—Be a Benefit

Palauan wisdom reminds us: don’t be a burden in someone else’s house, be a benefit. If you live in a house and consume without contributing, you are not a guest, you are a liability. This applies to our citizens abroad, but it applies even more to our nation at home. Are we a burden on our partners, or are we contributors to the global community? Do we only ask, or do we also offer?

The measure of sovereignty is not the size of our GDP but the strength of our self-respect. A nation that waits for others to define its needs will never be more than a dependent child. A nation that chooses to stand, even on limited resources, becomes a true partner.

From In-Depends to Independence

Mangefel’s parody ended with the line, “And lead us not into dependence.” Yet here we are, half a century later, still in what I call the “In-Depends” stage of sovereignty, wearing diapers of dependency, waiting for caretakers. True independence requires more than legal documents and flags; it requires courage to break the cycle of asking and start the habit of building.

Washington sends billions to countries, why should Palau demean itself over millions? The question is not whether they care about the scale of our funding. The question is whether we care enough about ourselves to stop begging for what will never make us whole. True independence is not won through another budget line, but through the decision to stand on our own feet, contribute to the world, and refuse to carry someone else’s enemies as our own.

If we want to honor the prayer of Mangefel, we must finally say “Amen” to dependency and begin the harder prayer of sovereignty.

Your Humble Servant

Al Kahalic