Think About It Hawaii

We’re coming to the end of Mental Health Awareness Month, but for those in need of help, May 31^st won’t signal the end of anything. While the stigma of people coming forward to knowledge mental health issues has lessened in many ways, there is still a great need, especially as we begin to come out of these last two years of heightened anxiety, for people to come forward and get help without judgment.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that in any given week over the past two years, between 29% and 43% of U.S. adults experienced symptoms of anxiety or depressive disorders. The calls and cries for help have been growing locally. The National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI) Hawaii has been doing its part through a multitude of offerings and services to anybody, any ethnicity, any age- CEOs, caregivers, teens, front line workers, lawyers, retail clerks, retirees, et al. Mental health concerns are ubiquitous, but the great news is that assistance is available no matter how seemingly benign or how dire your circumstance may be.

Support, mentorship, and peer groups, online or phone chat opportunities with absolute anonymity (if desired) can help people today. Now is as good a time as any for you to check-in and check-up. As Alice in Chains sang, “somebody check my brain”.

Braveness shown in this arena by celebrities like Naomi Osaka and Michael Phelps going public is wonderful, and I’ve read a few columnists opening up about personal mental health issues recently, but it’s really about your concerns, friends, family, co-workers and/or neighbors. Busy therapists might be tied up for months, but a counselor or support group may provide an immediate beacon of hope for you. Crisis lines are also available locally if the need is immediate, sporadic or acute. 

People freely discuss heart issues, cancer recovery, or nagging knee ailments. Talking openly about mental health should be just as easy and cathartic. Yoga, meditation, nature, music, learned coping skills- there are myriad ways to deal with what ails you, but don’t wait or let anxiety build. 

Find what works for you, now, June 2, or around the holidays. Go to www.namihawaii.org, call (808)-591-1297, or call 211 for a referral. Please don’t let creeping mental health issues fester. And if you’ve got a personal mental health success story to share with others, how great might that be?

Think about it…  

“Three things cannot be long hidden- the sun, the moon, and the truth.” I enjoy that quote, often attributed to Buddha. But I’ve also seen it attributed to Confucius, and others simply suggest its origins are unknown. Wow; a quote about the truth, and we can’t even agree on its truthful origin.

As for the moon, I realized its power when trying to comfort crying toddlers decades ago. Simply take the tot outside at night, point up and say, “Look, the moon!” Sure, it’s a diversion, but it usually works wonders to calm the teary storm. We now hear talk about revisiting the moon, perhaps colonizing it, or even Mars. Ho-hum. Perhaps we should first figure out how to make this mortal coil more habitable before we start planning escapism into celestial realms. Talk about getting away…

The sun is life-giving, of course, and after coaching a tough soccer defeat, I would query my AYSO soccer tyke teams by asking, “Hey team… is the sun going to come up tomorrow?” Perhaps confused or at least (again) diverted from their sadness, they’d all nod affirmatively. “Good,” I’d say, “because as long as the sun rises tomorrow, we’ve all got a chance…” whatever that meant.  Looking back, I realize that perhaps my most profound pronouncements worked best with two- and nine-year olds, surely easier groups to cajole or compose than tainted adults.

We see, feel and celebrate the sun and moon; and then there’s the truth, which has taken a beating of late. Opinions are like belly buttons- everyone’s got one. Politician/philosopher Daniel Moynihan once said, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinions, but not his own facts.” Alas, that seemingly pragmatic, rock solid truism has been sorely tested. Mark Twain presaged today’s reality when he allegedly said: “Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.”

Which brings me to our upcoming 2022 local elections that become reality in mid-July, when mail-in ballots will be sent out statewide. Now would be a good time to search for the real facts via objective candidate observations on issues which matter to you. Go beyond perennial posturing, pontificating, and pandering, and search for substance to help you make educated choices.

Hmmm… somehow I’ve now transitioned this treatise from referencing a possible classic Buddha quote to suggesting that we all study up to be ballot-ready. Must be the full moon.

Think about it…

It’s been almost a month now since we first learned of reported illnesses. Nausea, diarrhea, vomiting- well-known unpleasantries that should never be an integral part of one’s diet plans. The alleged culprit? Hang on now… Lucky Charms. 

Yes, that most basic yet vital food staple, cherished by many as one of the four major food groups along with Fruity Pebbles, Cap’n Crunch, and Cocoa Puffs (allegedly Hawaii’s favorite cereal), is being doubled-checked by authorities after over 450 reports about folks reportedly feeling ill soon after eating the sweet morsels. So much for being “lucky”… or charms.

Reports with details are available at https://iwaspoisoned.com, an actual website that aggregates comments when people report eating something(s) that made them feel yucky, and that site is now populated with marshmallow-y tales of physically off-putting symptoms noted after eating the marbits (yes, a word concocted when the cereal was concocted back in 1964, combining “marshmallow” and “bits”).

Now there’s nothing funny about food-borne illnesses, of course. But seeing that the alleged culprit here is not poorly-washed lettuce or spinach, undercooked chicken, raw eggs, bacteria-laden sprouts, or tainted seafood- but rather a dry cereal made from oats, corn starch, corn syrup, dextrose, etc.- is rather bizarre.

And I know it’s been a tough, debilitating and weird couple of years, but did you ever think you’d hear about Lucky Charms being a possible health hazard? Again, the jury is still out, but this revelation reminded me that occasionally we all crave food that’s simply enjoyable and fun. One can only consume so many cruciferous veggies, after all. In moderation, of course, sometimes you gotta eat for your mental health, like when pounding down that XL bag of butter-laden popcorn and mochi crunch at a movie, or munching massive malassadas, or scarfing down tri-colored, shave ice (watch for brain freeze).

We understand empirical advice to avoid overdoing it with sugar, salt, alcohol, fat, trans fats, red meat, fried and processed foods, white rice, artificial additives, soda… the list seems endless. Yes, sometimes you just gotta have whatever you prescribe as food for your soul. We know people didn’t pile on that so-called “COVID-19”, as in pounds gained, by noshing on kale, broccoli, and almonds, but sometimes, just sometimes, you just gotta have it. And that’s what makes this mysterious Lucky Charms scenario so potentially unappetizing; like a soggy bowl of, well… you know what.

Think about it. 

I went to a play two weeks back, and it was just beautiful. No, seriously, it was just “Beautiful”, the Broadway-in-Hawai`i version of the Carole King story. Attendees surely knew of King’s artistry through her multi-million selling “Tapestry” album (1971), but many were no doubt stunned to learn of the lengthy list of monster hits that King and her Brill Building cohorts wrote for others. King is considered the most successful pop female songwriter of the 20^th century with 118 written or co-written songs that charted, and “Beautiful” provided two-plus hours of pure joy at the Blaisdell Concert Hall.

But this story gets even more beautiful. 2,000 people sitting side by side without anybody getting in anybody’s face about what they were or were not wearing on their face. It was like fantasyland, or at least 2019. Most concertgoers were respectful of the “request” to keep one’s mask on, leading one to perhaps sense that we’ve entered a calmer, gentler moment.

BA.2 Omicron subvariant cases cause concern (“BA” must stand for “Bad Attitude”, as this stealth stinker proliferates), but many people still smartly appreciate sensible safety measures learned and practiced over the past 750 days; so maybe now we can look forward to things finally staying stable, and maybe even getting beautiful.

Sure, there remain many post-pandemic issues and items to deal with, but perhaps we can now focus on fixing things without having to worry so much about fixing one another. This is not to suggest that PTSD and other post-COVID realities will just drift away, but should cooler heads prevail, maybe we can rationalize that working together with empathy to resolve issues beats going into self-serving bubbles, playing tribal games, or resorting to “gotcha” at the expense of making things better for all.

While expecting little of value from the self-focused flotsam and jetsam working (not) in our nation’s capital, we can now pro-actively get back to putting our (big picture) island home in order as we put our personal island homes in order. The willpower appears to be there; the funds are certainly there (for now). How about a couple of years of transition, breakthroughs and small wins, followed by bigger celebrations?

How about we all start singing from a songbook of accomplishments and successes; great things can happen when no one cares who gets the credit? Doing that would really be beautiful.

Think about it…

I was used to my weekend routine- shower after golf, and that was it for the day. By 2p, my live Saturday/Sunday contact with outside humans often ceased to exist for two years. But last weekend a strange sensation overcame me post-golf. I realized that we actually had “plans” for Saturday night, plans involving other mortals. No books, crosswords, Zoom calls, binge/cringe-watching, numbing news numbers, or constructing my 453^rd Spotify music playlist.

We’d actually made dinner plans to see people we hadn’t seen for over two years. Yeh, the world is still frazzled, the country is still polarized, but some things are getting back to recognizable, positive normalcy. As I also attended my first large-scale group event last week, it almost feels like the parties Prince told us about in “1999”!

Streets full of cars and a lack of parking spaces everywhere mixed in with recurring sagas that simply never get handled locally- Laniakea parking, the Stairway To Heaven dilemma, UH autonomy, illegal short-term rentals, the lack of truly affordable housing, sovereignty, planned economic diversity, North Shore sand berms brunting nature’s ways- it all feels so normal again. We may have a plethora of local problems, but at least they’re our problems. We see ‘em, we own ‘em, and I guess we love ‘em, since we never seem to resolve ‘em with final actions and solutions, not just words or edicts. So who needs COVID?! 

Add in indecision on the TMT debacle, Waikiki Natatorium stasis, rapid (or vapid) transit, wayward feral chickens, Ala Wai Canal clean-up/flood mitigation, Red Hill water woes (who knew?), homes for a new Oahu prison and a new Oahu landfill, and yes, you can see things really are getting back to normal. No runs, no hits, just errors. While we were bubbled, almost nothing changed as little of the big stuff was fixed. But move over omicron, because the boyz and girlz are back in town and ready to (safely) party hardy! 

Our outdoor Saturday dinner was great as we caught up on life, family, work, and included the occasional whine (that comes with wine) about things never getting done locally- all edified live and in person!

I’ll soon seek my first post-bubble concert venture to aid in restoring order to my personal universe. I’ll keep a mask handy for safety, and perhaps to avoid “Ainokea” anarchists in our midst. Party on!

Think about it…

If you live on Oahu and have been looking askance at the debacle known now as the Red Hill water crisis, look again. An anticipated dry summer might necessitate mandatory water restrictions, according to the Honolulu Board of Water Supply. The Red Hill water crisis meanders forward with obfuscation and some red faces, but resolutions (and time frames) are not yet in clear sight. But we can lessen our own water usage via simple solutions that’ll add up when repeated by hundreds of thousands of Oahu residents. We’ve been here before, but here are easily implementable ideas to obviate the looming concern about pending water usage restrictions…

Brush your teeth and/or shave with the sink water off. If you… um, “go” often, don’t flush every time. As we say, “if it’s yellow, let it mellow” (easier to do when living alone or with an empathetic, significant other). Shorten lawn watering times, manually or remotely; water less frequently- in the early AM; shut ‘em down if it’s wet out; make sure automatic sprinklers are aimed accurately. 

And those vital, stress relieving, daily showers? Put on your favorite five-minute song as you begin. When it ends, you end. No more 10-minute masterpieces under the shining Moen in your near future, please. The neighbors will thank you, too, as your singing will be truncated. Oh, and sorry, but baths tend to be water hogs (vs. short showers). Check for household leaks (toilets, sinks, pipes, et al.). Run full loads only in the washing machine and dishwasher. Smartly rinse dishes without running the faucet ad nauseum. Clean vegetables and fruits thoroughly, but quickly.

You can take an active role in water conservation, as we all lend a hand now. I’ve pondered whether water, an essential and scarce survival resource, will become the oil of the 21sy century. In some places, it is already used as a weapon or a bargaining chit, and its handling has caused great consternation and sometimes great cost. Ask your friends living in the mainland southwestern what the future of potable water portends- it’s not rosy, it’s not fiction, and it’s not a fear-mongering plot. Heck, ask your friends in Moanalua!

Chicken Little exasperated her friends when she insisted that the “sky is falling”. With current groundwater issues here, a sizzling summer might provide us with a grim reminder of what happens when the rain is not falling.

Think about it… 

Three weeks ago, right here, I commented on proposed legislation that would help to mitigate the growing problem of feral chickens rambling around these islands. I certainly had some fun writing the column, with some obvious double entendres and wordplay, but I also thought that the suggested solution of using birth control feed to render hen eggs infertile was interesting.

But here come vocal ova-omitting opponents, shedding some new feathers on this chicken tale with testimony given during the early-April legislative session. “Save Hawai`i Chickens” spoke about how chickens eat centipedes, provide fertilizer via their droppings, and provide eggs for food; they say that feral chickens could provide a sustainable food source, and there’s a contamination risk to other birds and animals with specially-formulated pellets. There might be risk to our groundwater as uneaten chicken feed leaches into the soil. Who knew? Well, certainly not me.

Wow; civic-minded individuals coming forward to defend feral fowls. The chickens, who speak loudly (that’s part of the problem) but were too chicken to gather forces at the legislature, surely wished their human advocators good cluck…  

Unlike some of the bewildered bird brains who disagree with one another ad nauseum on myriad issues befuddling our nation, this was all done via common sense arguments based on facts, not half-truths, alternate facts, social media chicken feed or omnipresent, digital bird poop rantings so rampant in our tribalistic nation nowadays.

National squabbles today evolve around ego, power, control, fear, and not getting egg on one’s face. But this local poultry powwow revives my sense of hope for humanity because, yes, political discourse can actually be presented reasonably, civilly, and can ultimately be decided upon by focused leaders elected to decide great debates, whether locally or nationally.

In days of yore, reaching across the Congressional aisle might mean accommodating, actively listening, compromising, and/or keeping in mind the bigger picture. Nowadays, reaching across that same aisle is likely to be met with a virtual viral slap, condescending comments, grandiose accusations, or we witness tired, redundant retreats to predictable sectarianism. Voters grow weary, remain wary, and too often, we witness nothing productive getting accomplished.  

But this well-presented, local debate about the fate of foraging ferals can be celebrated as an example of how “the system” works when cooler heads prevail. So, why did the chicken really cross the road? Perhaps to actually listen to the other side.

Think about it…

Ray Kinsella heard the call: “If you build it, they will come”. That was 33-years ago in the movie, “Field of Dreams”. Ray, of course, was a fictional character. But the concept lives on. The question in Hawai`i has always been- what is “it”? Because we’ve been talking about building something economically viable here to help keep our keiki home, to retain our incredible culture and character without relying so much on the tourism industry alone.

We’ve heard a lot of talk, but little investment or capital put forth in realizing our field of dreams. Cyber-security? Alternative, clean, or renewable energy? Defense initiatives? A mini-Silicon Valley or a tech hub with remote work encouraged? Medical research? Eco-tourism? Rocket farm? Innovative kapuna care? Perhaps dozens of smaller but potentially lucrative and alluring opportunities that add up, rather than pegging our hopes on just a few ideas.

The Census Bureau reminds us of our ongoing streak of losing residents annually- down 12,337 from July, 2020, to July, 2021. That makes five straight years of population decline. Hunches suggest that in-migration includes wealthier second home owners and immigrant service industry workers, while out-migration includes those who want a starter home and a sustainable career, or older folks who’ve simply decided that the price of paradise is too tough to handle in their waning years.

Post-COVID, economic recovery here may quicken as visitor floodgates re-open and tourism numbers increase. Suggested, sensible usage restrictions and user fees may help the state/city coffers without seeing visitor numbers rebound to new records.

But even with an expected, long overdue minimum wage increase, how to thrive here and plan one’s future realistically makes our now-annual population decreases a relevant concern. We need the best and the brightest, from within and without, to hui. We need local stakeholders, passionate empaths, and interested investors to get actively involved in realistic, yet far-reaching, pro-active, economic planning.

If we extrapolate this annual trickle of people leaving Hawai`i out over the next 20 years, it portends a diminished labor force not offset by a retiring, elderly population with age-related needs. It’s time to get serious; this conundrum has been tossed around like a barbeque burger for decades, with little emphasis given to solutions. Entrepreneurs, realists, problem-solvers, culture advocates, philanthropists, educators, gerontologists, astronomers… we’ll need a big room, big thinking, and big action plans. Who’s ready to dream and build?

Think about it…

I’ve suggested before that change is good… as long as it’s good change. You know, if the change works for me, my family, team, bank account, interests, tribe, community, species… yeh, then it’s worth it. 

According to Gallup pollsters, Congress currently has a 20% approval rating. Odd, since the same people asked if they approve of the job Congress is doing annually are often the very same people who vote bi-annually. The Congressional approval rating was 9% in November, 2013, so one could argue that Congress is now over twice as popular! But good luck changing the “system”, which has been befuddling people for years as voting numbers sag. Intransigence, tribalism, self-preservation, false bravado, you name it, we see it regularly.

It’s a bit of a different situation at the state level, as our local legislators are part-time legislators- right or wrong. While most of them do work year round, the annual legislative session lasts for just 60 working days, and in that window, some 2,500-3,000 bills are proffered, but only about 10% pass into law. There must be a smarter way, and a better use of limited time. Yet, 46 of 50 states have part-time legislatures, and some meet for only 30 days a year!

Then there’s the fact that many0 of our local legislators have “outside” jobs. While understandable from a financial standpoint, this would seem to create potential conflicts of interest among other concerns. Having outside jobs arguably keeps legislators grounded and in touch. Being in touch is a good thing; having your fingers in the pie? Not so good. Outside skills and knowledge absolutely come in handy when discussing and deciding upon major issues where inside expertise can be helpful. But how often do legislators recuse themselves when issues being voted on strike too close to home?

We do have some rules and an ethics commission, so this is not to suggest anything other than perhaps it’s time to revisit “the system”. Maybe we should pay higher salaries to full-time legislators? Might that relieve some angst about a constant crossing of a moving line as bills evolve? Maybe it’s time to revisit oft-suggested legislative term limits, though that would remove historical perspective and innate knowledge, plus limit the people’s right to choose. Many questions… perhaps it’s time to look at addressing a confounding, unwieldy, archaic, and sometimes stifling system of democracy here and elsewhere.

Think about it…