MidWeek Column

Like Charlie Brown lining up to kick the football after so many repeated failures with mischievous Lucy as his holder, we have great hope that this time after several false starts; perhaps we are finally getting over the surreal hump of COVID-19. But with over 2.5-billion people worldwide still unvaccinated, it‘s premature to declare victory just yet. 

But we have hope, and perhaps a light at the end of our hunker-down bubble locally. So let’s get rid of gnawing rudeness and “me” first. Let’s start reducing the angst that understandably built up with two years of fear, uncertainty, whack-a-mole rules, starts and stops, dos and don’ts, Safe Travels, don’t travels, etc.? PTSD can be treated communally.

While we don’t hear many stories about COVIDiots locally, we do hear of people behaving badly on planes, in restaurants and stores, and just about any location where human interaction (a practice frowned upon not long ago) occurs. Let’s calmly get back to being the Aloha State after spending far too long in an alone state.

We can consciously appreciate what we’ve got here, now that the waters are receding, the winds have died down, and the storm appears to be dissipating. We used to think a huge natural disaster might get us- hurricane, tsunami, volcanic eruption or earthquake- yet this time ‘twas but a tiny bug, plus earthlings’ chutzpah and intransigence. 

Thomas Friedman of the New York Times said it well two weeks ago when he wrote “How is it that we have morphed into a country where people claim endless ‘rights’ while fewer and fewer believe they have any ‘responsibilities’”? But have we simply morphed? We’ve regressed and atrophied; our souls have surely sagged on many issues for many reasons. We live in an era where everyone (who are often no-ones) gets 15-minutes of digital fame, where we strive to be liked, clicked on, befriended, and must take incessant selfies to prove… well, I’m still not sure what.

As COVID fades (alas, it won’t disappear), let’s be different and be first in line as we display a heaping bowl of tolerance, empathy, and civil discourse. We won’t always agree- frankly, we never did on lots of things- but let’s reign in the useless ugliness that pervades far too many facets of far too many lives. Maybe local residents saying “lucky you live Hawai`i” will actually employ that sentiment going forward.

Think about it… 

HAMAU is an acronym, and so much more. The letters signify Health & welfare, Aid & awareness, Management with change, Aloha 100% always, and Unifying organizations. But this is not simply a new, nonprofit entity. This entity is laser-focused. For HAMAU’s purpose “…is to educate and inspire the next generation of performing artists”. HAMAU seeks to do this by ensuring that there are “…fair economic and working conditions in live venues, recording studios and in the digital domain”. 

Unlike many of us, working artists (musicians, producers, engineers, et al.) work on their own. They often seek their own insurance and handle their own medical costs, to name just a few areas of self-sustenance. HAMAU wants to help artists, and also to bring music back with local artists performing live for locals and visitors alike. 

We all benefit from and enjoy the great, unique sounds of Hawaiian music, however you define that term. Old skool kine, classic, Jawaiian, leo ki`eki`e, slack key, pedal steel, ‘Ūkēkē, … whatever form of mele you enjoy or whets your palette, it comes from the heart and soul of some of the kindest and most hard-working people we know. And HAMAU pledges to provide a safety net “…for the health, welfare and well-being of all Hawai`i’s musicians and artists in the entertainment industry”.

I first learned of HAMAU three weeks ago while being serenaded on Hawai`i Island by HAMAU advocates (Brother) Noland Conjugación, Kelly Boy DeLima, and Gaylord Holomalia. It’s not an easy life, and there’s a rite of passage and a passion as one moves up in the world of performing arts. HAMAU’s “simple” aim is to make sure that these beloved entertainers have a voice, are heard, and can look forward to retiring some day with the same, basic creature comforts that so many retirees look forward to as they continue to be productive into their golden years.

HAMAU and its board pledges to work to advocate and promote as it evolves in the coming years, including “…a space for collaboration” to be located downtown. It plans to work alongside business leaders of the Hawai`i Executive Collaborative and the tourism industry “…to build the ecosystem for performing arts in Waikiki and other resort areas in Hawai`i”. “Hamau” means to hush, be still, or silent. To help preserve this vital cultural resource of our islands, HAMAU cannot be silent. Stay tuned…

Think about it…

It’s Super Bowl week, so I thought it might be fun to draw analogies between the games of football and life. It all starts at the beginning with the kickoff, or birth, as the entire game is in front of you. 

Throughout life, as at the start of the game, be as prepared as can be. Educate yourself, constantly. Hopefully you’ll have coaches (football) or parent/mentors/friends (life) to teach you, motivate you, push you, exhort you and hug you… which makes it easier to succeed, however you define success, by providing you with life/game options. The more you learn about the world, the more options you’ll have, and the more prepared you’ll be for whatever’s out there.

Running game not working; you have to pass. Zone defense not slowing down the opposition; time to play man-to-man. In life you do what works, hopefully within the rules. Start by getting educated. One thing they say is guaranteed in football is that there’s a 100% chance of injury. Creepy, but true. But such is life- no one goes undefeated or uninjured- as we learn through resiliency, tenacity, willpower, and awareness as we overcome life’s owies; we get back in (or stay in) the game.

Life and football are played in series. A series of events, a drive to attain a goal… these football/life metaphors and similes never end should you choose to wax poetic. You gain a few yards, you lose a few yards. A first down = success! You complete an exhilarating bomb; you fumble. The key to football (life) is how you respond. You’re surrounded with teammates (family, co-workers) over whom you often have no control; you deal with obstacles, pleasures, small wins, and frustrations that make up football (life). You adapt or whither… every day, every play.

Play outside the rules and you pay a price. And when penalized (in life/football), often others suffer, too. Find what works best for you, go for it, but morph and adjust as the game (life) evolves. Don‘t make assumptions, steel yourself for life’s hard hits. If you get the wind knocked out of you, regroup, and get back in the game (concussions are different, of course).

However you define winning and losing in life, remember that unlike the finality of a completed football game, as long as the sun rises, you always have tomorrow. So get in there and play hard!

Think about it…

While there are innumerous issues to be addressed locally, some of which are gladly getting discussed in earnest at this year’s legislature, one of the items that stood out recently when it was reported was the lack of retention in our teacher ranks… still.

 The Star-Advertiser reported two weeks ago that the five year retention rate among public school teachers remains at just 50%. The goal was to get the retention rate to 60% by 2020, but that obviously never happened with COVID and other factors in play.

We should obviously be striving for quality along with quantity with the goal of keeping good teachers motivated as we hope to keep their students inspired. An enlightened student population can only help in the goal of a better future for all locally. And while the quest undoubtedly starts at home with involved, interested, pro-active parents, having to reinvent the wheel annually with new teachers makes for a cumbersome business model.

Whether it’s the convoluted education system or the high cost of living that butts up against salaries offered, the issue of retention must be re-addressed now and post-pandemic if we truly believe that “the keiki are our future”, which we hear year after year (and, of course, it’s true!).

While paying “shortage differentials” in certain areas (geographic and specialties) helps to mitigate even more shortfall in retention, work remains to be done, including seeking outside success stories in cities where retention has also been historically difficult. Hawai`i is not alone in its seemingly weak retention rate; the national public school teacher five-year retention rate average hovers around 50%.

One position proffered for years is that teacher salaries are so low to begin with that the entry rate, even with subsequent negotiated increases, is a non-starter for many who might look to the teaching profession while in college. The increasing demands, paperwork, expectations, morale issues, lack of materials, and enhanced accountability (i.e. meeting test score mandates) make teaching a true labor of love. Add to that the perceived babysitting/behavior factors and lack of motivation that is unfortunately seen in many students, and the picture becomes clear, though not pretty. 

Large companies losing 50% of staff within five years often struggle to survive, let alone thrive. We (locally and nationally) need to do better in keeping quality teachers to help ensure that students are encouraged in schools for their future success.

Think about it…

The time has come. This must be the year for immediate action. The state legislature is now in high gear for the next 90-days, so we all need to see real action on items which traditionally get discussed, lip-serviced, or tabled. 

Programs and funding need to be enacted this year. The pandemic has put more people on the edge of economic despair and we’re now beyond most of the federal funding, unemployment assistance, and Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) checks. We have a state surplus of funds due to greater tax collections than were expected. And we have more funds available through the state and counties via ARPA, the America Rescue Plan Act.

We have kids who’ve been out of school dealing with remote, then on site, learning and teachers stretched thin at work and at home. We have front line responders triaging on a daily basis- from early 2020 through delta and omicron. And those hospital figures don’t include the uptick in non-COVID physical ailments that simply festered over the past 2+ years.

We need money smartly and quickly given to the professionals in the nonprofit world who make sure it impacts those most in need, with built-in accountability. A disclaimer here… I run Aloha United Way, so I know the need for assistance has rarely been more urgent. Before COVID hit, the AUW survey counted about 595,000 people in Hawai`i’s ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) population. Hard-working people, perhaps one or two missed paychecks away from experiencing major economic burdens. Ask an economist, the ripple effect of any additional duress would surely impact everyone here. Today, the ALICE number is presumed to be 700,000 people- almost half the state is living on the edge. Many haven’t been able to move ahead since the 2009 recession. 

Due to redistricting mandates, every state legislator is up for election this year. Leaving Hawaii’s vulnerable and possibly soon-to-be-vulnerable population- from keiki to kūpuna- in limbo this legislative session would be unwise- many of these people vote- and unethical. Follow the proceedings and comment to your elected officials (they work for you) on early childhood education and care, truly affordable housing, mental health assistance, and other annually-discussed social issues that shouldn’t need yet another study, committee, caucus, or report. No more obfuscation. The 2022 mission must be to resolve or mitigate items in play right now, not in five years.

Think about it… 

With so many modern conveniences and amazing technological feats appearing frequently, there are still some things we still have trouble providing, and I preface this by saying others have surely talked, joked, or written about some of these…

Like the fact that we can see zit marks on people’s faces with modern day technology from outer space or read the tattoo on their forearms from special government cameras at malls and airports, but when some scofflaw robs a bank, the nightly news shows us a picture that looks like a baby ultrasound or a shaky Polaroid shot from 1968, with the perfunctory blurred guy in a hoodie and sunglasses.

And while I can jam 5,000 songs onto my iPhone and carry on amazing video chats and get instantaneous location updates, I simply can’t get through that short distance known as the Pali Tunnel(s) without losing reception- cell phone, radio, you name it. It is 2022, so can we install the technology which will enable us to get through that challenging transition from town side to windward side? I mean if we can chat on a phone (please, no) at 30,000 feet, can’t we get through one one-tenth of a semi-enclosed mile without losing connection (hands-free, of course)?

And speaking of the Pali Highway, we’ve heard of neighbors complaining that speed bumps are causing their houses to literally crack as some free wheelers go flying over the bumps, but now that growing potholes before and after the speed bumps are causing motorists to slow down (or zigzag) even more. No problem, we hear that Pali repairs will be done by year end… we just don’t know what year.

Kepler-452B is a cool (we think) exoplanet that we can apparently see, and it’s 8.2 quadrillion miles away. If we rode on our fastest current space probe there, it would take 26 million years to arrive on Kepler. Yet while we rejoice seeing that dot well, I still can’t get a decent pair of eyeglasses that don’t smudge every single day?!

These are the types of things that used to keep us up at night, or at least were weird wonders we pondered. But they were mere somewhat existential curiosities. Now we obsess over mask microfibers, whether we’ll need a fourth vaccination this spring, and why is that guy coughing who just got on the elevator?! Ah, the good old days.

Think about it… 

It’s not just we humans who are trying to find a safe corner to stay in during on-going, bizarre times. A mongoose was captured on Kauai a few weeks back, and for those uninitiated in our audience, the Garden Island is one local garden spot where these vermin have not gotten a foothold. 

Introduced to Hawai`i over 120 years ago, mongoose were brought in to help eradicate the growing rat problem in the sugar fields. Well, sugar may be gone from our fields, but mongoose (diurnal creatures) and rats (nocturnal creatures) never hit it off or got together as planned, and both have found their mutually exclusive local niches. For the mongoose, Kauai remains on a list of places to occasionally visit, but not live. 

The Department of Land And Natural Resources here estimates that mongooses cause $50 million in damage annually, not to mention the unfathomable loss of musubi and other food items left in golf carts. While mongooses have been found on Kauai, they are not entrenched there, which is good, because that’s one egg/bird-eating guest no one needs.

And just before 2022 rolled in, a wayward (actually leeward, since it was off Kaena Point) wild pig took a bite out of surfer’s surfboard well out in the ocean! Wild bores often appear at Christmas holiday and New Year’s parties, but perhaps due to the fact that everything is once again being (smartly) curtailed, this wild boar was hightailing it (or perhaps low-tailing it, being a feral pig) in the ocean, perhaps to escape hunters and/or dogs.  Luckily, the experienced surfer placed her board in between herself and the paddling porker and was not harmed.

Pigs, mongooses, coqui frogs, centipedes, termites, Jackson chameleons, the ubiquitous cockroaches, etc.- we do have our fair share of generally unwelcome animal guests here. Even guests of the human variety that we personally invite here sometimes lose their sense of “welcome” after a while, but that’s another story. We share the land (and water), we accept boundaries, and we understand (hopefully) our place in the grand scheme of things in these islands.

But it still becomes newsworthy (and almost folksy) when we hear about strange animal incidents. Plus, an occasional offbeat story about our fauna friends can help us to put or keep things in perspective, which is still a great relief these days.

Think about it…

Take nothing for granted… after all, life is a gift, as are relationships, and you don’t want relationships and your time to drift into that prophetic Joni Mitchell line: “don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you got ‘til it’s gone…” I said goodbye to a few more friends in 2021. But I really didn’t, because there were still few formal services, few final tributes allowed. I did get to say aloha (with 100 others) pre-omicron at a beautiful December life celebration to a friend that included vintage pictures, video, songs, speeches, laughter, love, and tears. I even got to perform an air guitar tribute. And while this get-together came a year late, it still allowed many a calming sense of completion and peace. Mahalo and amen, Jerry.

If it’s to be, it’s up to me… I first heard this expression here 20-years ago at Delorese Gregoire’s invigorating “Winner’s Camp” for teens. It rings true every day- be the change you want to see, don’t wait for others or make excuses, figure out how to get it done. Be a leader in your own way- even if just for a day- rather than play the pawn. I hear people say “I don’t have time” for… whatever. But that’s all you do have- time. No matter how busy you are, it’s your time- take charge; don’t forfeit time. I understand the trials of dealing with kids, jobs and life’s necessities, but strive to make small strides to gain some control. Never more so than during a pandemic we must live, love, learn, laugh, and not let it all weigh too heavy- yes, even after two trying years!

Change is good, as long as it’s good change… ponder that concept as we approach the 2022 elections, or possible recalibrations of your work/life choices, including where to live, and other decisions you may face. It’s often fair to hear the cry for change from the dissatisfied, but formulate what that change might look like. If you believe we should simply toss ‘em all out and elect newbies, well that only works well if the new people are actually “better”. The “grass is always greener” fallacy might be smart to consider before making a headlong, under-developed leap into a new job/career, yet analysis paralysis will literally get you nowhere.

It’s now 2022… and time to think about it… 

One of the things parents hopefully do is to teach their kids accountability. You make a mistake, you own up to it, and you either fix it, move on, and/or presumably learn from it. So why can’t adults here do the same?

We see errors being made, or we see issues kicked down the road like rusty cans, and no one seems to say “my bad”. It’s always “the system”, or things just manage to occur, as if human decisions (or often- indecision) have nothing to do with it. Come on, even Michael Jordan missed over half the shots he took. You missed, admit it. And while the pandemic surely complicates everything, the list of issues unresolved here pre-dates pandemic-onia 2020/2021. 

Where to start? TMT, economic diversification efforts, upgrading public education, the Falls of Clyde, Lanikai and Laniakea parking issues, Stairway to Heaven, Red Hill, the Waikiki Natatorium, the HART project, homelessness, the brain drain, an alternative leeward O`ahu access road, truly affordable housing, sustainable living wages, plus 20 other issues you know of that pop up and disappear like the Whack-A-Mole game… the issue/project/conundrum fades from the headlines, then crops up again, with a new pledge to form a committee, review board, provide an environmental impact assessment, open up neighborhood hearings or… well, you know the drill. Just too much humbug to act on things that have been nagging us for years. Accountability? Repercussions? Consequences to inaction? Perhaps entropy will ensue.

We witness vapid biennial campaign promises or pseudo-efforts to tackle issues over and over. Decision-making can be tough and even unpopular in many cases. But at the end of the day, year, or decade, some action is surely better than none. A local consumer base grows numb, weary, and, and apathetic while leaders, er… managers- those hired or elected to make difficult choices- simply move on, sans movement.

Perhaps it’ll change in 2022. Maybe people will take decisive action needed on myriad issues locally, will truly lead versus simply maintain. Not making decisions on an item is actually a form of decision-making, albeit not a very exemplary way to do things. How refreshing when someone takes over a project, and says “here’s what we’ll do… now” and then does it, or says, “my bad, but here’s how we’ll solve this moving forward.” What a great lesson for kids- and adults- that would be in 2022.

Think about it… 

While Christmas travel might not be on your agenda this year, we all feel like that day is coming, once we get past omicron, or whatever might be next. And with that thought- traveling- comes an eternal question so often asked by our mainland friends- “which island should I visit?”

Wow, what a quandary?! Even for locals. For each island has its own innate charms and special features, so it comes down to: “what are you looking for”? And while we might find ourselves befuddled trying to answer the question if we opt for a staycation, it’s not that different than if someone traveled to New York- New York City, Niagara Falls, West Point, Lake Placid, the Catskills… Same thing with most other states that have disparate sites within. California? LA, SF, the desert, Lake Tahoe?  So many choices and so little time.

Having just returned from a glorious trip to Hawai`i Island, I was reminded of just how unique a place the Big Island is. From Hilo through Honoka`a and Parker Ranch to Waikoloa. Hawi, Kawaihae, Na`alehu, Pahoa, Puako, Volcano (the town), an active volcano, black sand beaches, snow, paniolo, unique wildlife, vibrant agriculture… the list goes on and on. While there, I visualized in real time that age-old question from non-akamai malahini: “why do you folks even bother having a daily weather report in Hawai`i?” Yes, ignorance rules. I saw fresh snow on Mauna Kea while it poured in Kailua-Kona yet ‘twas tranquil and sunny in Waikoloa. Micro-climates galore rule on all of our islands.

We have so much great diversity here- in people, places, cultures, et al.- that perhaps we take it for granted too often. Living local allows you the opportunity to go on a lifelong quest exploring myriad customs, histories, foodstuffs, flora, fauna, and off-shore treats that can simply amaze. So that’s my resolution for the next year (or 10). Explore more, embrace the unknown, avoid same old, same old-ism; experience things I’ve not yet made a sincere effort or spent the time to explore, eat, play, learn, or meet. 

While many consider Hawai`i a relatively “small” place, its contrasts and richness make it huge. There’s simply not much homogeneity here, just look further and wider. The melting pot that is Hawai`i goes way beyond its bouillabaisse population base, if you just give it a try. So seek!

And Merry Christmas!

Think about it…