Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 34, Number 10, 1 ʻOkakopa 2017 — Making Our OHA a Better Plaee. A continuing series: FUTURE STRONG! [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Making Our OHA a Better Plaee. A continuing series: FUTURE STRONG!

LEO ELELE TRUSTEE MESSSAGES f

When I think about the monetary phenomenon of economies and of the eomplex interaction of individual actions that lead to unintended pattems of predictable and orderly outcomes of wealth and prosperity as Adam Smith states in his

book, Wealth of Nations, I feel that he is really describing the role eaeh of us plays in creating a moral society. Our individual choices ean lead to important social outcomes... something more important than the price of apples. What is the role eaeh of us plays in creating a moral society, a society that many of us are fortunate enough to live in? Questions eome to mind: How honest should I be on the j°b? Should I take advantage of my friend? Mueh of the time, we have a good idea what the right answer is to these questions. We often know what is proper and what is improper. We know what people consider to be the minimum standard and what it takes to go beyond propriety. These are rules that go way beyond what we eall social interaction. Who decides what is honorable, nohle and kind? We Decide. We decided these things and the outcomes are the result of ALL our interactions together. They are not controlled nor determined by any

ONE person. What is the process? When people approve of what we do, we are pleased. When they don't approve, we are disappointed. We want to be Loved. This desire to be "loved" — our desire to seek approval and avoid disapproval, to seek f i ■ ? — — ■ -

honor and avoid dishonor — is embedded in us by God (or Nature), our ancestors and society; depending on your worldview. Good behavior is encouraged by approval. Bad behavior is discouraged by disapproval. These are the incentives created by those around us, our beneficiaries — the actual spectators of our actions. Eaeh aehon we take affects those aroundus. It's like the little girl finding starfish stranded on the heaeh by the low tide and tossing them back into the oeean. A passerby, seeing the thousands of starfish left stranded, tells the girl that her task is hopeless. How ean she possibly make a difference? "I made a difference to that one" is her reply as she tosses another one back into the water. Every good deed we do has an immediate impaeī. . .but the "ripple effect" created by both our actions and our approval/disapproval of others will create an additional impact on the world around us. These urges and inclinations are feedback loops that have the potential to create a 'better' OHA. A hui hou, Trustee Leina'ala ■

Leina'ala Ahu lsa, Ph.ū. TrustEB, At-lsrgE