LEO 'ELELE - TRUSTEE MESSAGES

Hawaiian values are key
to making a difference

Boyd P. Mossman Trustee, Maui

Aloha Kākou,

The economy has continued to tank over the last several months and many are looking to hang on to their jobs, their businesses and their homes. Not very good news for anyone. We are all affected one way or another, and here at OHA we have witnessed our $400-million-plus trust fund shrink to $279 million, over a 30 percent drop in funds. This is simply due to the drop in the market and the recession, which have caused every investor to suffer likewise. Last year we had the opportunity to secure money and lands totaling $200 million, which would have provided our people with the opportunity to be given more grants, a land base, current income and the promise of future revenue generation. Instead, we got zero, but rather than continue to cry over spilt milk, suffice it to say OHA tried but was defied from within and denied from without, so now we all wonder from whence assistance, money, grants, aid, etc. will come. The state Senate wants to saddle OHA with more responsibility for unproductive lands without the means to care for them or to defend ourselves while at the same time slashing our budget. It will likely mean even less in available funds, which OHA has been providing to Hawaiian organizations and individuals.

Hawaiians have been, are and will continue to be an intelligent and determined people and thus the importance of self-determination that would allow us to work within our own means and give us the capacity to focus upon our own needs. In light of the world economy, terrorism, illegal drugs and the insatiable appetite for self-satisfaction that brings with it iniquity, vice and immorality, Hawaiians must increasingly depend upon their culture, their values, their intelligence, their families and Akua. To assure we can even have these, we must recognize that we must have a solid legal foundation from which we can then build. That foundation is not international law or independence-minded persons seeking to lead us back into the 19th century as we proceed into the 21st. That foundation is one already created with divine inspiration by those philosophically divided but united in a determination to achieve peace, freedom and justice. I speak of the country in which all of us were born and a Constitution that compared to the rest of the world offers us more freedom and choice than any other. Illegal overthrow notwithstanding, we are fortunate to be citizens of the United States.

Now what about the illegality? That we can work on via the Akaka Bill and the recognition of Hawaiians as an indigenous people by Congress. With the establishment of a governing entity, whatever its form, we can proceed to build, and to better, and to become the best that we as a people can be; now, not in 500 years. We don't need to have a constitutional monarchy with all of its trappings and all its limitations and weaknesses in a threatening world environment. Even with the Akaka Bill, Hawaiians will be challenged. But without it, what is there? Do we wait for the Savior? Do we hope for the downfall of the United States so we can somehow internationally finesse our own independence? Do we keep following those whose bitterness and hostility fill the Net and news pages with demands for all or nothing? Or do we seek reason, common sense and practicality seasoned with humility as realistic alternatives? We need to recapture the appreciation and gratitude that for some Hawaiians has disappeared into a cloud of anger, contention, despair and distrust. Arrogance, greed and ego are not Hawaiian values.

Study your roots. All of them. Reflect upon your family. All of them. You can make a difference for the better. Just choose the right.