This week in Maui, as with so many weeks before, we are grateful to live where acceptance and respect are the default settings of society.
Despite our many differences, we live in a harmony that most communities in this world can only dream of. It starts with the host culture. With their aloha spirit and connection to the land, sea, and air, Hawaiians set the state’s baseline for kindness, compassion, and responsibility toward future generations. We are taught that living on a remote island chain is better when we get along. Working together makes things happen.
Perhaps this is what makes the pettiness and pettiness we see in the Mainland news so jarring. With all the serious issues that need to be addressed in America, the obstructionists are up against low-level troops meant to stoke division and anger. This canned rage rarely has anything to do with critical economics or politics, but focuses on hot-button issues to garner clicks and airtime.
Of all the frivolous campaigns we’ve seen lately, the biggest has to be the attacks on gay and transgender rights. Wasn’t this already settled by the courts and Congress? Don’t LGBTQ+ Americans have the same inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as all other citizens?
We thought America had come a long way toward living up to those lofty ideals set forth 247 years ago in the Declaration of Independence. The struggles for true equality for people of color, women, LGBTQ+ and people with disabilities are not over, but they have certainly made progress. With each generation, acceptance and understanding became the norm. right?
Or was America faking it? Had their fans just learned to hide their prejudice and hatred? Our last president blew the lid off so sparingly. Suddenly, it was okay to attack anyone or anything to advance your personal agenda, whether they were gold-star parents, down-on-their-luck immigrants, or respected scientists. Poll scores and numbers meant more than decency and truth.
We now have state legislatures enacting laws that not only strip LGBTQ+ people of their rights, but also promote rhetoric that endangers their lives and safety. For what purpose? Could it be a distraction? Since they can’t solve big problems like climate change and mass shootings, do we go back to looking for people different from our own? Who benefits from this crab politics of division and anger? Certainly not society as a whole.
Hawaiians have long accepted that aikane (same-sex couples) and mahu (transgender or those with a dual male-female spirit) are normal parts of society. Instead of expecting them to conform, their abilities are celebrated and appreciated. Once again, Hawaii offers America a shining example of how to live up to its own lofty ideals.
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