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LEO 'ELELE - TRUSTEE MESSAGES
Social workers: they're everywhere, they're everywhere
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| Haunani Apoliona, MSW, Chairperson, Trustee, At-large |
Aloha mai kākou. On May 16, 2008, the School of Social Work at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa held its 2008 Convocation. This event provided 16 undergraduate BSWs, 76 graduate MSWs and two post-graduate PhDs in Social Work to gather with their families and friends in joint celebration of their scholastic achievements and shared support. The following are specific excerpts from my Convocation Remarks.
“Warm greetings to family, faculty and well- studied and victorious graduates. I am pleased to be here and am honored to look into the faces of 2008 School of Social Work change agents. I carry great hope and a spirit of expectation for the work and contributions you will and must make to Hawai'i's present and future.
Thirty-two years ago, when I graduated from the UH School of Social Work, the jury was out on where I was headed, but the Regents of the University of Hawai'i on the recommendation of the faculty conferred the degree with all the rights, privileges and honors thereunto appertaining, taking the hope-filled risk on me.
Now it is YOUR time with all the rights, privileges and honors thereunto appertaining to step forward to make a positive difference.
Hold close to the lessons from our ancestors that guide and chart our steps today. You face an ocean of opportunities and risks; and successful navigation of these forces starts first with strength and clarity of spiritual values.
'Ōlelo no'eau, gathered and published by Mary Kawena Puku'i, heighten values of the spirit and provide wise counsel. Their relevance lives on through the generations.
'A'ohe 'ulu e loa'a i ka pōkole o ka lou. There is no success without preparation.
Fire up your passion to make a positive difference for humanity so your professional lifetime produces well-being and reawakening modeled by giving back. Let service, not self-service, define your excellence and leadership.
Take on difficult tasks with focus, discipline and courage.
He po'i nā kai uli, ka ko'o, 'a'ohe hina pūko'a. Said of one who remains calm in the face of difficulties
Invest your time in working on the front line, at the grass roots, in direct service or community organizing; superb experience and training for public service and/or elected office.
O ke kahua mamua mahope ke kūkulu. Learn all you can, then practice.
If and when public service beckons you to the level of elected office, whether for the neighborhood, for the Native Hawaiian private and public Trust, for the Legislature or for the Nation, you will achieve that kuleana because the people have placed their trust in you. They expect in return ethical discerning judgment and prudence. Hawai'i as well as the Hawaiian community needs remarkable and honest political leadership.
An 18th century writer notes: Politics is the most hazardous of all professions. There is no other in which one can hope to do so much good to his fellow creatures and neither is there any in which, by mere loss of nerve, one may do as widespread harm. There is not another in which one may so easily lose one's own soul, nor is there another in which a positive and strict veracity is so difficult. But danger is the inseparable companion of honor. With all its temptations and degradations that beset it, politics is still the noblest career any one can choose.
If public service, specifically political office, will be your ultimate destination as a Social Worker; or a community change agent in the private or public sector is your commitment, Ua ahu ka imu, e lāwalu ka i'a. All preparations have been made; now let us proceed with the work.” 43/48
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