Changing Hawaii

By Diane Yukihiro Chang

Friday, February 13, 1998

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Too bad it’s got to be
BIG to be noticed

REMEMBER Hawaii's good ol', slow-poke, small-time days? We wrote letters by hand, shopped at the local mom-and-pop, talked story on the neighbor's lanai, labored over elaborate home-cooked meals, and slept a lot.

Now we carry pagers and cellular phones to be reachable at every waking moment.

We browse the immense "big-box" stores and mainland chains, and communicate via e-mail and fax.

It's easier, cheaper and faster to buy meals than to create them.

And who has time to snooze? Go! Go! Go!

Everything must be done in exaggerated manner. Wait, let me clarify: Everything must be overkill. If it's not in the extreme, to the max, off the charts, fastest in the country, then -- sorry, pal -- it's not worthy of notice.

The subject must be grotesque, titillating or outrageous enough to capture attention. The issues can be painful, but must be too fascinating to ignore -- O.J., Monicagate, the mainland teacher and her 14-year-old lover, the UH softball stadium. The morbid list goes on.

These are big, big stories. But are they relevant and nurturing?

Here are more disturbing questions to ponder under the heading, "Why bigger isn't always better":

Sinking fast. The movie "Titanic" cost $200 million to produce, and it sure looks like it did. But does the glitzy extravaganza break any new ground (besides an iceberg) in terms of acting, directing or scriptwriting finesse?

It may have reeled in more than $337 million thus far, and a fleet of Academy Award nominations, but will it be remembered as an inspiring classic with an important message for humanity?

Not when the sweet love story between Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio nearly drowns in the production's need to impress.

Buy the way. "Shop till you drop" can now happen in a single store. Massive retailers selling only one kind of product (like athletic equipment or hardware goods) or one brand name (NikeTown, anyone?) are beginning to overwhelm Hawaii's business scene.

It's the epitome of consumerism -- a myriad of choices in one place, resulting in a hyped-up shopping experience that is more stressful than satisfying. Too bad the "buy in bulk" mentality means the continued pursuit of glut in a finite world.

Mis-trustees. And then there's the data overload known as the Kamehameha Schools/ Bishop Estate investigation. When you have the biggest private landowner in Hawaii, one of the richest educational trusts in the nation, and some of the highest paid "charitable" trustees in the universe, it's a wonder this major player has avoided scrutiny for so long.

Talk about an overdose of power, arrogance, secrecy and salaries. With every new revelation, members of the Hawaiian community and the rest of us look on incredulously. Who's lying, who's hiding documents, who's charging $20,000 in bar bills on the company credit card? How could things have gotten so out of hand?

EASY. It's a sign of the times. A manifestation of the dangers of excess. Too much, too fast and not enough moderation. It's the relentless, shameless quest for quantity, not quality. Welcome to an era where priorities are warped. Too few are shouting, "Stop!" because they're preoccupied with vastness.

Remember Hawaii's good ol', pre-"Titanic," pre-Nike, pre-Bishop Estate controversy days? Neither do I.