Where does aloha live? Where does it stay?
I read about the grisly crime on the other side of the island and my stomach dropped.
I let out a sigh and wondered, how do we call ourselves the Aloha State when it’s gangbusters and mayhem everywhere?
We read the papers and shake our head, thinking about a blond girl in Puna riding her bike on Christmas Eve when the wolves came out. Local boys thrown to the ground in a chokehold, a Hilo kid run over by a fire chief and now this horrible crime in Leilani, I dare not say its name.
We gawk at all this and ask, where is our aloha? We need it now more than ever.
I once found it in a wise book that told me the reason there is evil in the world is to bring out the good in people who help those who suffer.
Another place to find it is in the courtroom of this horrendous Leilani case.
We see the haggard defendant standing bleary-eyed in court, accused of something absolutely horrible, and then we see the judge calmly tell him,“Sir, we have to make sure you’re protected.”
Now that is aloha.
To find aloha just look for chicken skin.
Walk by the Kona Walmart McDonald’s some morning, and see the tutus wearing their bright leis, smiling and strumming their ukuleles, singing Hawaiian songs, there it is.
Watch one keiki hula, there it is again.
I saw it at the gas pump one day when some scraggly hippie was begging for a buck to put gas in his old truck and a big smiling Hawaiian handed him $20. That doesn’t happen on the mainland, bruddah.
It’s in our Hawaii-born quarterback, Marcus Mariota, who went to the rough mainland and showed them humbled greatness. He showed how a local boy can get knocked down again and again and get back up, keep on going and not blame anybody else. That’s aloha. That’s Super Bowl someday.
There is another well-known Hawaii-born person who used his aloha and leadership qualities to go about as far as you can go in this world — the Oval Office. Strong stuff.
Aloha is subtle, sometimes we can barely see it, last week it showed up in the Hawaii County Council.
Someone suggested that because of his legal problems, Billy Kenoi should step down as mayor, and the whole council went silent and refused to do it. That showed grace and appreciation, there’s a Hawaiian word for that.
It’s in the schools where the kids of every color, brown, black and white sing Hawaii Ponoi and play together for years, totally colorblind to each other.
It stays with us, this color blindness, this niceness, this unnatural politeness we all have. The force is very strong here.
Evil, do your worst, you’re no match for this thing we got going here.
Our Hawaii emotion is alive and well, strong as ever. Defend Hawaii, no need, we have a secret shield stronger than anything, it’s called a smile, it’s called ohana. You know what it’s called.
Dennis Gregory is a writer, artist, singer, teacher and Kailua-Kona resident who mixes truth, humor and aloha in his biweekly column. He can be reached at makewavess@yahoo.com