Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 32, Number 12, 1 December 2015 — A Time of Aloha [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

A Time of Aloha

The end of the year holidays seem to arrive so quickly. Seems like we just got done paying last vear's holidav bills

I and it's back again! Truly, the end of the year holiday season, highlighted by Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's seems a polarizing experience. On the one hand we try to slow down and get in quality time with family and friends but then we end up on the nonstop holiday busy-ness and shop till you drop train and can't seem to get off. So, by the time Jan. 1 arrives we need a vacation from the vacation we just had? Whew! The holidays are hard work!

This year, I'm making a concerted effort to slow down the train and make a good faith effort to celebrate the holidays as holidays were intended to be celebrated. So the first thing is to hit the re-set button and spend some time deliberately reviewing the year I had - sorting the good fr om the bad - and moving forward being one year smarter, having leamed from my mistakes, and making a eommitment not to repeat them. A new score card. Second, it's important to make time to remember those people who are no longer with us. Certainly family and friends but also the celebrities who appeared in our living rooms on T.V., on the movie screens, and on the poliheal stages of the world. These people whose images are bumed into our memories

as inseparable from the world as we lived it. I shall miss many of them. Third, now is the time to circle the family by aatherina toaether in

special celebration of the 'ohana. Deliberately let eaeh other know how mueh you love one another. Many of us go through the motions and say all the right words but tend to be distracted by all the holiday stuff that swirls around us. This year, look eaeh other in the eye, embrace, and mean your words. Try it. It feels really good. Fourth, treat the approaching New Year as a new beginning. Give serious thouuht to what vour

self-expectations are for 2016. Be clear in shaping a few simple goals and get

yourself mentally ready to take the next steps in pursuing your dreams. Lastly, ask yourself what does all this end of the year hoopla really mean? For me it's the season of aloha. The very nature and intent of the holiday season is captured by this most wonderful of Hawaiian words. To love and respect eaeh other. To extend an unconditional hand of friendship - even to strangers. To accept responsibility for the safety and comfort of others. To cherish these beautiful islands and give thanks for our time here and now. To understand that aloha is a verb to be acted out in ways that lifts the human spirit and makes the world a better plaee than we found it. Truly, 'tis the season of aloha. ■

j LEO 'ELELE ^ > TRUSTEE MESSSAGES /

www.oha.org/kwo | kwo@OHA.org NATIVE HAWAIIAN » NEWS | FEATURES | EVENTS

PetEr Apo TrustEE, O'ahu