HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0377.106 2024-2026From: Peter Childs
Sent: Saturday, August 16, 2025 3:23 PM o c->
To: Council Testimony a cr-3
CS
Subject: RES. 234-25 :Z:
b CD i
Dear ones, = —. r`
1 strongly support Resolution 234-25. At this unique moment in the human journey Hawai'i h�a very
special contribution to make; indeed, that it is making as we speak. It is the gift of Aloha, which is the
answer (the only answer) to the enormous crises into which we have allowed ourselves to drift and which
have reached the point where they actually threaten the continuation of life as we know it on this
magnificent but so badly abused planet.
Let me tell you a story. For thirty years my friends in the Los Angeles music scene had been telling me
"Peter, yQu need to go to Hawai'i!" Finally I was able to go, ca.1995. There at last was Hawai'l below the
plane; we landed at Kahului and the first breath of Hawai'i air almost brought me to my knees, the Aloha
was so palpable.
I wasn't imagining it; when on that trip we went to Kona there was a Hawai'ian sovereignty office in the
Kamehameha Hotel lobby. Having had some experience with the American Indian Movement, I had to
check that out; inside was a lovely Auntie gliding about with the grace that can only come from dancing
hula since you were ten minutes old. I started babbling away: "What do I know? I just got off the plane
and worse yet, I'm from Boston! But I know what happened to my heart with my first breath here." She
immediately swept me into her arms, saying "You made my day! When someone gets it that fast it thrills
me!"
With the space left here let me just say that I understand all the arguments for military activity (and the
true heroism that is so often involved in facing the horrors of combat [e.g. the 442nd]), but we must now
very seriously ask ourselves where those ideas have left us. In the nuclear age we are helplessly
continuing the behavior that has led us into every war we ever had, and we don't even have a Department
of Peace to lead us away from the brink. The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists now puts the Doomsday clock
at 89 seconds to midnight.
It is time for truly radical change. We are now being called upon to choose between what is really, truly
Right and what is really, truly Wrong. It is time, let us just say, to prioritize Aloha and minimize, however
seemingly justified, military activities (I can't allow myself to forget that Jesus said "Turn the other
cheek." Wildly unrealistic as that seems by normal standards, I think he knew what he was talking
about. And it's normal standards that got us into this mess). Things are evolving at an astonishing pace;
to the extent that we can make that choice and put it in into action we will be very glad that we
did. Passing Res. 234-25 is a step in that direction.
Aloha nui Loa, Peter Childs
Comm. I.
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