I DON’T know why we always want people to say nice things about Guam like somehow that’ll translate to more tourists or more federal money. I mean tourists rely on their experience while they are here so it is better we act nicer to them such as not overcharging or ripping them off, individually and institutionally.
When it comes to federal money, that comes whether folks there have a high or low opinion of us. And what have all the folks who have lived here for some time or a long time done for us after they have gone back to the mainland?
On the other hand, it is good to have allies for issues such as the one the Pacific Association of Radiation Survivors stand for, which continues its efforts to lobby both houses of Congress for inclusion of Guam in the Radiation Exposure Compensation Program (Marianas Variety – Guam Edition, Feb. 6, Page 3). But locally, it is disjointed and as with many things, most of the community is not behind wholeheartedly even if they might give lip services for sorts because some are jealous while some are just apathetic.
I have always believed that our desire to have people say nice things about us stems from the fact that we are not politically a mature human being. You can only be a babe in swaddling clothes for so long. You can only be on mother’s milk for so long. After that, it just becomes an adult who does not want to grow up, and a spoiled child emerges. You can see that in the way elected officials conduct themselves.
It is not just throwing hot dogs that will define you. The inability to produce solutions also shapes your legacy hence the throwing out of Republicans in ’06, nationally.
To put it in simple terms, why do local TV and radio ads bore us? Because we are exposed to national ads made by marketing execs. Who make six-figure salaries to sell subliminal messages while the ones here are mostly made by high school graduates? If we are living and therefore competing in the global marketplace, then we need to raise our level of sophistication if people outside Guam are to take us seriously.
As long as we cannot balance the budget, cannot generate surpluses (remember we don’t print money and people abroad are more worried if George W. Bush will make them, then they “hate” America) and have dysfunctional educational and health-care systems, folks will always say what they have always said: “Oh, the people of Guam are so NICE.” Unfortunately, too nice, which is what happens when we rather carry favor with our governors and senators current and former.

MATT PHILIPS
Mangilao, Guam