Chamorro priest underscores ‘freedom of individual choice’

A Chamorro Catholic priest and humanities scholar from Guam underscored the “freedom of individual choice” in identifying and defining what kind of person he or she wants to be.

“They can choose to be the people they want to be and they don’t have to be paralyzed in all things by the political and economic choices that others have made for them without their consent. Because how you define yourself, what languages you speak and what values you live by, that’s up to you. That’s all yours. You go figure it out and let others figure it out for themselves, too,” said Fr. Eric Forbes.

Forbes was the featured speaker at the NMI Humanities Council 20th anniversary fundraising event at Pacific Islands Club Magellan restaurant on Friday.

Forbes, who also has Irish-American and Filipino roots, disclosed how he couldn’t say the words “I am Chamorro” because of self-doubt.

“At some point, I decided to put all my self-doubt away and I decided I’m going to become as Chamorro as possible and my childhood at grandma’s gave me a good start,” said Forbes who was raised by his grandmother and two grand aunts.

Besides a Chamorro upbringing, Forbes said he also learned more about his island roots through Guam politics in the ’70s which he described as “very Chamorro.”

But Forbes noted that the freedom of individual choice comes with inherent limitations.

According to Forbes, other elements such as one’s education, travels abroad, one’s personality quirks influence one’s choice.

“We have to point out the limitations that are inherent in this free will that propels us to try and identify who were and claim it, just as there is no one way to be a Chamorro or Refaluwasch not only today but even back then. There was no one way to be those things,” he said.

Forbes also emphasized that being a Chamorro or Refaluwasch has to have meaning in order to describe something.

He said these individual choices are “pieces of the puzzle” that could be put together, just like what the Humanities Council tries to do.

“As we grapple with the question of our Chamorro identity—what happened to us, who did it to us, are they still doing it to us, and most importantly, what do we have to say about it—let’s give our people the pieces and let them put it together,” he concluded.