I never want to be rich

I used to have this daydream that I’d write a book and 100 million people around the world would buy it for $10 on Amazon, making me a billionaire overnight. And then I thought, ‘what the heck do I need $1 billion for?’

I don’t even need $1 million. I could spend the rest of my life unable to tell myself how I’m going to afford the cost of living two weeks into my future, as long as I’m able to do one thing: Fall asleep each night with a clear conscience.

The desire for money – especially when we are struggling – can summon our worst impulses and color our ethics with qualifiers and rationalizations that are anything but just. I’m not saying that earning money to make a living and save for our retirement is a bad thing. I’m not even saying that accumulating wealth is evil in and of itself. But, oftentimes, to make money or to promote ourselves and whatever value we assign to our egos, many of us are guilty of selling out what we know to be good and right.

So, when I saw an entire parade of block party vendors set up at the foot of the Agana Cathedral Basilica for an annual event sponsored by a local bank, I could not help but wonder what the event organizers were thinking. How did they surmise in their planning that it was okay to line up the merchants and blast the latest pop songs in front of a church with services that coincide with the block party?

The cathedral’s pastoral office knew about the 5K that would happen in front of the church, but was unaware the actual block party and all those merchants would be there until everyone started showing up.

All that’s missing is Jesus Christ Himself coming to overturn the tables of the money changers.

Deference to the church isn’t all that matters here. And, truly, in that area there are so many side streets where the merchants could have been directed to set up, including the area surrounding the Guam Museum, Guam Congress Building, and Skinner Plaza. Probably what’s most upsetting is that a family is grieving the recent loss of a loved one and arrived at the cathedral tonight to this block party right in front with music blasting while they’re inside mourning and worshipping.

This is tactless, to say the least. I mean, what’s next? A block party in front of Our Lady of Peace cemetery? A marijuana expo in front of Tamuning Elementary School? How about a full summer bazaar at the site of the Manenngon concentration camp? Why don’t we just sell raffle tickets at the next Memorial Day commemoration?

Politicians asking people to vote for them at the lisayus and the matais was, until today, the most glaring disrespectful occurrence I’ve seen in church. But at least it was quiet and somewhat hidden. This… what you see in these pictures, is in-your-face contempt.

We wonder why crime is so high and how so many people are willing to hurt others or throw their trash around our beautiful island. Look at these pictures. How can we expect young and poor Guamanians to grow up respecting each other, if the older and more privileged of us can’t even respect the church and the dead?