Welo...

This past week I had the humble Honor once again to attend Fern Elementary's Founder's Day celebration honoring Joseph Fern. The first Mayor of Honolulu who successfully ran and was elected on multiple occasions, he was a kanaka who was well-loved and a great example of Aloha and diplomacy. Born in Kohala in 1872, he eventually succumbed to the ravages of Diabetes where he passed at Queen's Hospital in 1920.

Joseph lived during the most tumultuous times in the islands and through drastic changes in the political landscape. He was so well-loved that he was granted a state funeral and his body laid in the Throne Room at 'Iolani Palace.

I, as well as many others, were moved to tears to bear witness to the children of Fern Elementary pay tribute to this Beautiful Kanaka. With the Royal Hawaiian Band providing powerful performances, the children sang Hawaiian songs and danced hula in a Beautiful Tribute. 

To see so many Beautiful little faces. Hawaiian, Filipino. Samoan. Tongan. Fijian. Japanese. Chinese. Caucasian. Portuguese. Micronesian, and mixes of every ethnicity you can imagine at a school that serves many underprivileged and disadvantaged communities in the area, all singing Kū Ha'aheo and other powerful mele brought a deep sense of Healing and a most Powerful Sense of Hope in the Love that filled the school cafeteria.

The Unseen Ancestors of these children, of this Congregation of Beautiful Little Humanity also filled the cafeteria beaming with Heart-filled Smiles as they watched their Legacy, their mo'opuna, bind all with Love.

So truly humbled and grateful to Principal Glen Miyasato and Hawaiian Studies teacher Eric Wada, and all the faculty and staff who put so much effort into this yearly tribute which was resurrected several years ago at the school after many, many decades since the last Founder's Day programs.

It is Love and Aloha which binds the school. The students. The families. The underlying fabric of the Hawaiian culture. History. Values. The soft, yet resilient, shimmering Healing fabric of Aloha.

There in these little Hearts lay the Hope for the Future of our Precious Beloved Islands. Of our Precious Beloved World. And I have no doubt, that in a most Beautiful Place on the other side of the Veil, that Joseph Fern, and his kūpuna from time immemorial, quietly watched, finding their own Heavenly Healing, knowing that all of their suffering and sacrifices in their Lives, was so very worth it. So very, very worth it...

Aloha Kekahi i Kekahi...

Love One Another...