The convention was simply amazing. Everyone has a story of their own. It's ever changing and growing in many different ways. This story is a person's life. The lives of the people who were honored in the convention's program are very powerful and inspirational. Granted I have quite a bias in saying so since Roy Sakuma was recognized as one of three Hawaii Forgiveness Heroes. Last summer and this summer I was fortunate enough to have the privalege of working for Roy and Kathy Sakuma. All the while I never fully realized what an honor or treasure it was to be working for them. Now in my last week of summer work for them, I am just so thankful that I got the chance to become friends, study under them for about ten years now, and work with them on the 39th and 40th Annual Ukulele Festivals. If you haven't gone to one of these festivals yet, I highly recommend that you do. It's absolutely wonderful. A free concert featuring the ukulele. Yes, free. What's the catch? Spreading laughter, love, and hope.
Any ways, going back to the forgiveness convention. When you don't forgive someone else, the only person who misses out on life is you. Carrying around all that hurt and emotional baggage. It isn't easy nor is it fun. But once you forgive, you are able to love. and love is extremely powerful. The greatest gift you can give yourself is forgiveness, and the greatest gift you can give someone else is love.
I go college on the mainland. A lot has happened during these past two years.Lots of drama as my family likes to put it. Lu`au during my freshman year was any thing but smooth sailing, and the after math still remains fresh and daunting in the minds of some people. Myself and a few others I know of had gone into this year's lu`au just praying it wouldn't be any thing like last year's. Last year at least one person in every committee had turned against another person they were once real good friends with. Unrelenting forces duke-ing it out to the bitter end Graduation. Gahndi, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcomb X, all of them were present conservatives and radicals alike. Graduation of the people who may have seemed like the catalysts of the movement to incorporate a more educational aspect to Lu`au, so it would be more than a show and some thing Hawaii Club members could relate to on a more personal level. I salute them. For not staying silent, striving to change things for the better, having good intentions at heart, doing their best to be rooted in the truth, and doing their very best to reach out to those younger than them and pass on their knowledge, hoping we would not end up having to deal with the cumupances of their actions.
Why I mention all this. To sum it up, it seems to me that while on the mainland, a bunch of us forget about where we're from and parts of who we are in an attempt to get to know the locals of our new environment. It serves as a way to be more socially acceptable, so there's a good margin of gray in the mix. The Aloha spirit in a lot of us got lost in that mix. I would like to see a little more of everyone's Aloha amidst the stress/pressue of this year's lu`au, in HI Club, and in my own life as I continue on my educational career.
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