THE BIGGER PROBLEM REVIEWED

Upon reading the editorial, "The Bigger Problem" in WHT on May 2, I began to
hear an echo sound emanating from my previous publications in the same
journal. "Hawaii, you'd better wake up."

I wish that my efforts, and the efforts of the WHT editorial writer, and the
efforts of various other contributors would make a difference. But all this
sincere effort just seems to entertain, perhaps even stimulate, but not
really inspire the population of Hawaii to action. Maybe, it is we who are
being mislead by our own personal views against the destruction of a
culture. Maybe, it is the will of the Hawaiian people to travel this road
into extinction, to become mere vague memories suggested by dance troupes at
visitor centers. Maybe Hawaiians have already passed into mythology status
and I, like others, are only deceiving ourselves into believing that
Hawaiians as a people and a culture still exist.

It all began with Cook. It was the age of adventure and discovery. The credo
of victory for church, personal fame and wealth, finally arrived to the
group of mid-Pacific islands located at 19 degrees 27 minutes, north; and
155 degrees 55 seconds west. Western civilization arrived and things have
never been the same since.

Beginning with that event the Hawaiian people have struggled to survive as
an extended family group. What was once a culture based upon family and
monarchy became fragmented, by design, under the pressures of religious
missionaries and a multi-national agricultural industry. All those who would
have ambitions of possessing the island's beauty and bounty realized that
first the people would have to be subjugated and disenfranchised from their
royal heritage, from the enviable right to their own island lands. From the
beginning, there was no effort to retain the Hawaiian culture and it was
left to survive on whatever sense of self worth the local population could
assemble.

Things are no different today. The Hawaiian people are still under attack.
But the paradox is, that the conflict, the effort to destroy and subjugate,
comes from within the Hawaiian people themselves.

While at this very moment there is in motion the effort to reclaim Hawaiian
homelands and be recognized by the U.S. government as a sovereign nation,
there appears to be forces intent upon rendering this goal merit less;
unspoken yet, but with the excuse, "But they're a drugged up, drunk bunch of
natives, and what good could possibly come from giving them back anything."

If this prophecy comes true then in fact the Hawaiian people will not have
the capability to govern themselves, or provide for their common welfare.
The battle to subjugate the culture will have succeeded at the hands of the
Hawaiians themselves. Western civilization will have trained the Hawaiian
people to destroy themselves. The world will see Hawaiians as a failed
culture of their own undoing. The agent of this undoing will be openly known
and discussed as "substance abuse."

Addiction to designer drugs has no total recovery. No amount of rehab center
tenure will correct the physical damage done to the central nervous system
of a hard core addict. This is not a Saturday morning hangover event.

When addiction is initiated during the intense hormonal flux of teenage
years it will have an even greater effect than upon an adult user. Apart
from the physical damage during initiation of drug dependency, in the pre
and adolescent development stages it acts as deprivation agent and prevents
the acquisition of normal growth events in sexuality and mental
developmental skills. You may as well mummify the kids.

It is within the Hawaiian psyche to protect and provide for all native
children as all belonging to one extended family. This traditional bond is
the crux of the drug crisis. It is this highly commendable loyalty which is
allowing this new form of subjugation to conquer and destroy the remaining
Hawaiian soul. This humanity and love for one another traditionally
prohibits brother to turn against brother, mother against daughter, child
against uncle. This is a tragic paradox of human love and loyalty.

It is up to the Hawaiian people to redefine their needs and their goals and
to, in fact, redefine their own future as a people. It is well within the
power of the people themselves to set forth an old value system into new
terms. They must come to realize that by not forcing out the demon of drugs
and other substance abuse they are in fact doing no different to their
heritage and their children's futures than if they chained them to a tree
and hooded their sight from reality.

The drugs offered to children are the ghosts of Cook's ships come back to
reconquer a trusting people. But upon this revisit the crew is replenished
with Hawaiians.

There should be no place of refuge for those who would destroy an entire
people by enslaving the children.

Ray Tostado, Captain Cook

Viewpoints reflect the opinions of individuals in our community and do not
necessarily reflect the opinion of the newspaper.