Is it right to deceive your own fellow Hmong brothers and sisters for a little monetary gain?

Have you ever asked yourself if it’s worth it; if you, at one time in your life, have stooped to the level in plotting ways to cheat your brethrens for the benefit of yourself?  Normally, your conscience tries to motivate you deriving from the pragmatic ethics or moral principles your parents’ had taught and instilled in you that govern your basic thoughts and actions.  However, sometimes situations like this can be compromise by becoming the benefactor of greed.

You can feel it now, your internal organs twists and turns with that gut wrenching feeling of someone plowing away into your innards like a jackhammer thudding it to the core.  The sensation of the throbbing pains and the tearing away of your entrails becomes too overwhelming because of the guilt that is eating you up from inside.  Like a headphone, your conscience manifests these two identical miniatures of you, one fully clad like a devil and another with a flowing halo over his head, each shouting furiously at you to agree with him.  A brawl between the two entities erupts within you—who should you choose?  Which one should you side with?

Sometimes, some people are already programmed bad, their wires twisted.

And sometimes, it’s a learned habit.  Once you have entered the dark side there is no turning back.

Let’s flip back to reality.  The reason why I’m ranting on about this is that a colleague of mine had, firsthand, witnessed such atrocity.  During the 2009-2010 Fresno Hmong New Year, Jabb, the colleague I was talking about was sold some advance tickets to an event to promote Bliss Night Club by Goosedaddy and CVP productions.  At the end it was only a ruse to lure people to the club.

That night, to avoid the long line, he arrived at the nightclub early.  He was ecstatic to have been one of the very first to get to the night club, as he was accurate in his assessment at arriving early for it wasn’t long until the line was freely flowing around the corner of the night club.  The bouncers opened up the doors only to allow one advance ticket holder to get in with the pre-sold tickets.  Immediately after, the line was ordered to a halt by management because of the opportunity to make more revenue.   The advance tickets were a ruse and everyone carrying the pre-sold tickets was charged an additional ten dollars just to get in.

Why sell a ticket when you do not have control over what goes on afterward?  I’m appalled at what people would do for a little monetary gain.  Club promoters be cognizant of my remarks and listen!  When making such promises to your patrons, collaborate with the club staff to ensure that the products sold are seen through.  Do you go to Fandango.com and order movie tickets to pay more when you get there—absolutely no!—so why sell advance tickets to a party and charge more?  The more you swindle your peeps, the more they’ll turn their backs on you.  Remember the good old saying made famous by our ex-president George W. Bush:  “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.”  Simply, we’ve learned once and won’t be fooled again twice!