Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 21, Number 2, 1 February 2004 — A better way [ARTICLE]

A better way

I have done a bit of traveling in the South Seas, as I love Polynesia and as an artist have a passion for the old Polynesian ways and beliefs. I have been living in Hawai'i for a while now and am very troubled with the young Hawaiians falling victim to this "iee" or drug epidemic, and as I am now homeless here, I have had a ehanee to see up front and personal the homeless issues as well as the drug and aleohol influences on the younger Hawaiians. Many young Hawaiians should travel deep into Polynesia and discover, as a Rarotongan chief onee told me, "a better way," meaning a better way to live. Some may say the Cook Islands are third world, but I say no, I think Honolulu is truly more third world, because in Rarotonga the health and welfare seems to be of a very high value and the family is still intact. No real drug problems, no homeless at all and little crime. I think we all ean take a lesson from the Cook islanders and just maybe the aloha spirit will mean more than just a word for tourist consumption. Timothy Cook