Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 38, Number 3, 1 March 2021 — Ahead of Us [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Ahead of Us

With the holiday s behind us, the times we are used to enjoying together eonīinue to pass us by. Those of us born and raised here in Hawai'i miss the traditions that we would never have imagined would not be there. For those of us on O'ahu, the Puna-

hou carnival turned virtual; in Waimea on Hawai'i Island the time for the cherry blossom festival eame and went, postponed until 2022. One of three events held eaeh year for many Kānaka

family and friends to gather, Kamehemeha School's song contest, will not be held live. And next month, the event where the hula world comes together, the Merrie Monarch Festival, will not have a live audience, if it is held at all. As Kānaka, our ability to gather, eonneeī, and bond is part of our DNA. These times when we gather in celebration there is so mueh aloha all around. All these different events have this aloha in eommon. The magic in the air

is undeniable, and is just one of the many reasons we all look forward to them every year. We now have a light at the end of the tunnel that has clouded the last year. With vaccines well underway, we have hope that by this time next year I will be writing about how great it was to share mea'ai with our kūpuna at the Lunalilo Home's annual lā'au. We all will be looking forward to gathering in Hilo for

shopping and hula, and we will be looking forward to seeing one another at the Neil Blaisdell center for Song Contest. Every day we get word about new sites opening up for vaccines and soon vaccines will be available to the next tier. With all that we have to look forward to. let us

all please continue to do our part to maka'ala as we work to get to that light at the end of that tunnel. Let us all continue to wear our masks, eontinue to keep our distance, no honi or hugs, and when it is our turn, get the vaccination so we ean all return the Hawai'i that we know and love. Continue to stay safe and stay healthy so we ean all eome out together more resilient than before and onee again do what is in our DNA: gather. ■

Brendon Kalei aina Lee TrustEE, At-large

Kamehamehū Schools' Annual Song Contest has been an important community event for 100 years.