Hale Pa`ahao...

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I drove by the prison in Honolulu today. I could feel the broken 'uhane of my brothers inside. I could feel the broken 'uhane of their wives, children, parents and other 'ohana on the outside. But for the grace of Ke Akua, I would have found myself right there beside them. Our Hawaiian men. Our warriors in the fight to restore the life of the land. Good for anecdotal statistics or sensational sound bytes and crime clips on the nightly news. Then forgotten and discarded. Or shipped far away like current proposals for handling our increasing urban waste. Hawaiians knew how to let your spirit, your 'uhane travel, when your body, your kino, was stationary. We need to teach our pa'ahao, our prisoners, how to keep their 'uhane free to reconnect with their 'ohana. You may think it isn't worth the effort. But when you aloha our incarcerated men. You help heal their broken families. Their children. And then the kupuna take notice and love all of us even more. All of the kupuna. Living and dead...

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