Changing Hawaii

By Diane Yukihiro Chang

Monday, May 27, 1996

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According to the ranking, Dole Food's David Murdock, who transformed Lanai from pine to fine, earned $1.5 million last year. The heads of the two biggest banks each got more than a million bucks in 1995. John Couch, leader of venerable Alexander & Baldwin, paid taxes on $925,600, the poor guy.

Of course, you realize that these businessmen (none of the highest paid was a woman) make more in one day than many folks make in one month.

Do you want to know why? They deserve the greenbacks - because they have some of the crummiest jobs around.

Seriously. Take Walter Dods Jr., chairman of First Hawaiian. He has to answer to major stockholders, who aren't exactly the most reasonable human beings. He must keep his employees happy, his managers in line and customers satisfied while making sure Bancorp Hawaii isn't building a bigger headquarters on the other side of Bishop Street.

As my feminist friends would say, life is a bastard.

Look at it this way. Walter's million-dollar salary doesn't mean he's more important than anyone else in his organization. It just means that, if First Hawaiian fails, it's his okole in that proverbial sling. There, don't you feel better now?

Much more impressive than the list of highest paid was another stellar roster in Wednesday's paper. It featured the six winners of Outstanding Achievement Under Extraordinary Circumstances awards presented by the Star-Bulletin.

These public high school seniors are graduating with outstanding grades, an impressive host of extracurricular activities and plenty of community service under their belts despite:

• Rejection and abuse, attendance at eight schools and a progression of foster homes (Nani Burrows of Castle High).
• Severe former addictions to drugs and alcohol (Lazar Crawford of Laupahoehoe High).
• Extreme poverty and the agonizingly slow demise of a father (Leolalani Garvida of Kahuku High).
• The loss of an arm and shoulder, and the pain of chemotherapy (Troy Hamasaki of Pearl City High).
• The death of a mother to cancer and serving as surrogate caretaker to two younger brothers (Staci Sakoda of Waiakea High).
• Being born without a hand (Erin Takara of Waialua High).

BUT even after the students' moolah is spent, the satisfaction of their triumph over adversity will last a lifetime. Ultimately, money isn't everything.

When you're a high-paid CEO, your paycheck may have a lot of zeros, but it's not as rewarding as knowing you've made the company better. When you're an Outstanding Achievement awardee, you don't need a trophy to realize that you're a winner.

Here's the bottom line: Don't waste time and energy envying the bosses with the big bucks. The Outstanding Achievement crowd has the incalculable self-worth.