AS I write this, it's snowing in Boston. I'm wearing sweatpants, a T-shirt, sweater and Thorlo socks with extra-thick padding around the toes and feet, and a black wool cap covers my ears, because even indoors, it's quite chilly. It’s hard to stay
in the place we loveJust about a month ago I was standing barefoot on Kailua Beach, letting seawater find its way between my toes. I was wearing sunglasses then, squinting still, because the sun was so bright. A pair of surf shorts and a tank top. It was warm.
The idea that I would settle anywhere other than Hawaii upon graduation is shocking to many of my mainland friends. In fact, the first question schoolmates ask when they find out I'm from Hawaii, more often than not is, "Why are you here?"
The reasons to move back home are compelling. To me, winter simply does not make sense. Snow is great for the first hour, when one is overtaken by the desire to build snowmen and hurl balls of compressed ice at friends . But after that, it is nothing but a painful nuisance.
Yet like so many of my Hawaii-born friends, I now find myself genuinely torn. On the one hand, Hawaii is my home. I love it and want to return. For a variety of reasons, however, I find myself considering settling somewhere other than the 50th state.
THE outmigration of young people is a serious threat to our state's future. Every Generation Xer who leaves takes with him or her a potential business idea which ends up generating jobs elsewhere. Future teachers, leaders, doctors and engineers are settling in other places, weakening prospects for Hawaii's economic growth.
Perhaps the most common reason so many of my friends are thinking of leaving is also the most obvious: economic opportunity. What sorts of jobs are available to college graduates seeking to start a life in Hawaii?
The prospect of stringing together a series of part-time jobs to make a living is not appealing. In contrast, mainland companies are knocking on the doors of college students, promising lucrative contracts in "investment banking" and "management consulting." Before I left Hawaii, I had never heard of either of these industries. Yet the promise of quick money and challenging work they offer is appealing.
A more troubling reason my friends cite for deciding to leave is a vague unease they feel toward changes. "It's not the same place anymore," one Pearl City friend told me. "People aren't the same anymore."
Growing up in Makiki, Palolo and Manoa, I could always expect a smile from a stranger on the street, or a lift up the hill from a passing car. I always felt like people in Hawaii gave me the benefit of the doubt.
Many feel the "aloha spirit" has eroded. Are people in Hawaii now less friendly? I don't know. The highly publicized crime wave has made people feel less secure. In addition, confusion surrounds the sovereignty movement, and the climate of mistrust that permeates public life in Hawaii is different from the impressions we got growing up.
Our leaders can and must take proactive steps to stem the flow of young people from Hawaii. Solving the general challenges of crime and economic development will help curb outmigration.
Business leaders should make an effort to create "points of access" for youths - ways in which young people without "connections" can find out about job opportunities at Hawaii firms. Expanded and well-publicized internship and recruitment programs would be a solid first step.
Unfortunately, there are no easy answers. The main thing we can all do is acknowledge the seriousness of this problem. Think about it. Talk about it. Maybe together, we'll come up with something to do about it.
I still don't know where I'll end up. More and more, I want to come home. But only time and circumstance will make that possible.
Geoffrey Rapp is a '94 Punahou graduate and a
senior majoring in economics at Harvard.Rant & Rave is a Tuesday Star-Bulletin feature allowing those 12 to 22 to serve up fresh perspectives. Speak up by fax at 523-8509; by answering machine at 525-8666; snail mail at P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu 96802; or e-mail, features@starbulletin.com