Month: December 2019

I have been unfairly critical and demeaning of the people of Hawaii. Now that my time here in ending I feel regret.

Yes, I do feel isolated and that the people here are kind of odd. I mean, it’s an island in the middle of the ocean separated from just about everything else this world has to offer.

Yet, we are all sentient beings with needs, wants, and hopes. The people here are just trying to survive to the next day. It must hurt to see people come in this refuge and then alter the way life is conducted here. Strip malls are being built. People are buying houses and only living in them a few months out of the year causing the average price of a home and living to rise.

There are wonderful people on this island. There are loving people here. There are people that if they saw someone suffering the street they would immediately do everything in that power to help lift people up.

Let’s not end my time here on a bad note. I want peace. My entire family loves Hawaii. I have Hawaiian cousins and family. My grandfather was born in a plantation town called Nalehu and I have ancestors buried in unmarked graves around the rainforest.

For some reason, my ancestors from Japan and the Philippines decided to leave their homes and make a new community out here on these chains of islands. I will never understand that, but they did.

People out here look like me. People around here look like my family members. I can not help to go around town and have a strange familiarity with the people.

So when I am gone and leave, let me just say that even though life was not ideal this island and the people are part of my heritage whether I like it or not. I know that as soon as I open my mouth most people probably reject me or think differently of me. But, I do have a stake in these islands. I can claim them. Deep down, I’m the same, you just never realized it or bothered to find out.