THE best part about parenting is being able to see the world through a child's eyes. It can bring back lost youth and innocence, which is especially nice since grown-ups tend to get too jaded. Keiki don't b.s. and, if they try, they're not very good at it. They say what they think and question what they don't understand. Less selfishness
can lead to
better stateSometimes, they'll make an observation so simple yet profound that it puts everything in startling perspective.
That happened yesterday, when my favorite 13-year-old and I were hanging out on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Then out of the blue she turns to me and says, "Isn't it weird how you can see everything around you except your own face?"
Whoa. Whoooaaaa. This was deep, folks.
Let's analyze this concept. When we were created by You-Know-Who, He purposely arranged it so we could scrutinize everyone and everything around us; the only image we couldn't gaze upon (unless we looked into a mirror) was ourselves.
Holy enlightenment! Was this tactic meant to demonstrate that, during our time on Earth, we should strive not necessarily for our own needs and desires, but to enhance the well-being of that which surrounds us: family, friends, acquaintances, strangers, the environment, the community, the state?
Perhaps we should be asking, "Does what I'm doing make a positive impact on more than myself and, in fact, on a lot of people?" If yes, it's probably the right thing to do.
This rule-of-thumb would certainly have come in handy with:
About two dozen troublemakers on the St. Louis football team, who had fun drinking beer, watching a stripper and getting rowdy in their Las Vegas hotel rooms one night last month, but whose behavior got the entire program (including coaches and innocent players) suspended for four days.
Three examples in which "the greater good" theory was ignored, resulting in chaos and ruin.
Let's not forget one more instance in which this heavenly mandate will be especially necessary: on Election Day.
Standard operating procedure is for every voter to go to polls and support the candidate for governor that he or she likes -- whether that decision is based on political party, ethnicity, getting or keeping state contracts, retaining or losing a public union job, or any other factor that screams, "Me, me, me!"
But what if voters actually punched their ballots for the candidate who would make this a better place for most of the people in Hawaii?
DECIDING which candidate would make Hawaii a better place for the majority of its population will take a lot of soul-searching and deep thought. It certainly won't be easy to enter the privacy of a voting booth and downplaying who you personally want to see in the governor's office for the next four years.
But it's bigger than that. More important, for the others around us much more in need, who should be leading this state?
Diane Yukihiro Chang's column runs Monday and Friday.
She can be reached by phone at 525-8607, via e-mail at
DianeChang@aol.com, or by fax at 523-7863.