Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 31, Number 9, 1 September 2014 — Time [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Time

rvery August as summer comes to a close and the youth in our church start a new school year,

I our pastor, Kahu Billy ^^™Mitchell, prays over

all of them, the older ones as they head off to college, trade school (or the military) and the younger ones to their respective kula: Waimea, Honoka'a, Kohala, Waikoloa, Kealakehe, Hawai'i Preparatory Academy, Kamehameha-Kapālama, Kamehameha-Kea'au, Parker - wherever. We ask for Akua's blessings over them; to keep them safe, to help them with

their academic and athletic pursuits, to remain on a pono path and not forget the Promise of John 3:16. On Aug. 17, a mom, in sharing about her son who is starting his freshman year at San Diego State, had this to say: "My time has gone by so quickly. He grew up so fast. We will miss him, but we know this is a wonderful opportunity for him." And his dad had this to share, "I know we have raised our son well and I know he will never stray from the Word." Sitting there in the back row I got caught up with the word "time." Time got stuck on my brain. When I got home that afternoon I got the Foreman Grill out of the pantry, fried me a steak and put it on a big plate next to a pile of rice and corn from the ean. It was my way of preparing myself for a great voyage like the explorers of old - Magellan, Columbus, Vasco da Gama and James Cook. No, I was not looking for new 'āina to conquer for Spain or England or the Northwest Passage but for new knowledge, understanding this concept called time. 'Ōpū satished, I head for my "Cave" (my ofhce), open up my desktop and Google the word "time."

It was an intriguing and interesting voyage. I spent my whole afternoon going from one page to the next

spending time searching out this thing called time. It's amazing

how mueh time folks across time have spent understanding time and dehning time. I did the same thing, spent almost four hours of valuable time trying to understand time through the eyes and minds of others. At the end of all that time (four hours) I was right back where I started. I knew what Conner's mom meant when she said, "My time

has gone quickly." She was saying simply and elegantly: "Wow, I ean remember when our son was born and now look, he is a young man leaving us and going off into the world. It all seems like it was just yesterday." That's life. It moves quickly, so quickly, mueh too quickly. Her dehnition of time is a dynamic one. His dad's dehnition of time in this instance is a static one as he's coming at it from a spiritual perspective. Both perspectives for their son are timely, appropriate, so real and so genuine. For me, time is precious. I hope it's the same for you. My dad died at 41. My mom at 57. When I think of them, it does seem like just yesterday. I ean see their faces still. Our dad was a jolly, kind and generous man. Our mom was a tiny, pure Hawaiian woman from Onomea. Her family name is Kapuakelanu'u. She was proud of our kanaka heritage. God, family, education and hard work were her priorities and in that order. She believed idle hands were the devil's work. In raising my brother and me, the stick and the Bible were always near. Her bottom line was, "Never waste time." ■

Rūbert K. Lindsey, Jr. TrustEE, Hawai'i