Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 17, Number 9, 1 September 2000 — Leo ʻElele [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Leo ʻElele

TRUSTEE MESSAGES lnfinite possibilities for choices

WHEN WE engage in discussion with people labeled "successful," and we listen to their stories about the challenges faced and the obstacles overcome, we marvel at their feats of will power, faith and intemal strength as well as their usual aeknowledgement that they did not reach their prominent plaee in life without help. We leam that we cannot do anything great alone. Similarly, the Offīce of Hawaiian Affairs cannot accomplish the ultimate outcomes for Native Hawaiians without the help of individuals, famihes and the community of experienced humanity locally, nationally and intemationally. For we ean leam lessons from everyone and at all strata of the universe. Let me recount a few words of wisdom that I leamed ffom kūpuna, 'ohana and extended 'ohana and ffom reading widely the 'ōlelo of others in this world around us. There is no hmit to what you ean accomphsh. The Almighty has endowed eaeh of us with the "essence of greamess" or mana. Everything that we do, we have

chosen to do. How far we go is based upon when we choose to be satisfīed and stop what we're doing. Whether we do the job weh and strive for excellence is influenced by how we choose to complete our tasks. We hmit our own possibilities by ahowing obstacles, barriers and challenges to discourage us, or to divert us from the real priorities, or to cause us to choose to stop or give up altogether. We control our own decisions within the context of the larger universe. Despite our inabihty to control other parts of the universe around us, there are infinite possibilities for creating opportunities for change: • First, recognize your strengths (and the strengths of others) and use them wisely and courageously. • Second, join with others with similar goals and use your collective complementary strengths and wisdom to focus on challenging and changing the forces around you. In unity there is power. • Third, focus on a "win-win"

solution wherever possible. It takes more creativity and courage to fashion a mutuahy positive outcome than to wage a win-lose battle. • Fourth, acknowledge the Almighty and ah who helped you in any way, regardless of how small the effort may have been. Everyone is important. I shared this story recently with friends and ask you think on

it and that we act accordingly. Test of strength among top horses About 25 years ago, I read an interesting article in a California Farmers Magazine. The story was about a Pacific Northwest Country Fair. The part of the story that interested me most was a horse-pulling contest. Huge draft horses - like Clydesdale, Percheron and Belgian breeds - were used in log- pulling. Indi-

vidual horses pulled logs by dragging these huge logs a given distance on the ground. The winning horse, the ehampion, pulled 1,200 pounds, the second placed horse puhed 1,100 pounds, the third placed 1,000 pounds, the fourth placed 900 pounds, and

the fifth placed 800 pounds. Someone suggested that these top five horses should be hitched together to see how many pounds all five horses could puU together working as a team. The five horses averaged 1,000 pounds eaeh. Logic says five horses, eaeh capable of pulhng 1,000 pounds, together would pull 5,000 pounds. However, the five draft horses together pulled 5000 pounds of logs easily. When more logs were added, these five horses puUed the added weight. FinaUy, the five horses together puUed a total of 25,000 pounds, five times more than the five could be expected to puU if the individual capacity of eaeh was totaled. This is synergy, the amazing result of aU pulUng together. Just think what we as Hawaiians ean achieve if we choose to work together towards a united t goal by utilizing our strengths, focusing on a "win-win" solution, and acknowledging our God and our all encompassing 'ohana. ■

'This is synergy, the amazing result of all pulling together/

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