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Rant & Rave
PUNAHOU and Iolani are two of Hawaii's "eternal rivals" in sports and academics. With the quiet, yet long-lasting tension between the schools, blood is destined to boil, although it rarely reaches a point at which an entire community is forced to respond. Blame placed on
school for acts of few
is undeservedAs a student at Iolani, I'm a bit concerned about the animosity between the schools right now. In the past few weeks, certain events have caused a harmless type of antagonism to escalate into a childish and public fight.
On Easter Sunday, a metal sculpture of Iolani's mascot, the I'o, was subject to a barrage of white paint by a small group of Punahou students.
One group.
The embarrassment suffered by so many due to this one group's actions is completely undeserved by the rest of the Punahou community.
ACCORDING to our school newspaper and Punahou's principal, the 12 Punahou students involved in the vandalism have been disciplined, but the damage has been done, and such incidents continue to harm the prestige of both schools because of the harsh generalizations that have emerged.
When the actions of a few become the burdens of many, no one comes out unharmed.
What's my message, you ask? It's simple: don't allow someone else to make a stereotype for you.
Iolani students have been referring to the "damn Pun's" with contempt ever since the raid. I should know. The Monday after the vandalism, I was characterizing Punahou's student body the same way. Yes, I'm a hypocrite.
With the unveiling of the short-lived "Iolani Sucks" home page on the Internet, the hatred grew even stronger.
Although I appear to be focusing on the wrongdoings of a few Punahou students, who is to say a student from Punahou was responsible for the site? Whoever the wrongdoer is, the fact remains that this is pure speculation and we cannot rightfully blame a community for the incident.
Although we are quickly hurt when we see the wounds inflicted by such ridiculously juvenile actions, we must try not to rush to judgment.
In recent weeks, the Iolani-Punahou conflict, once restricted to the two campuses, has caught the attention of more and more Hawaii residents. Members of the community have called in to various radio shows to offer ideas about the source of and solution to the schools' dispute.
ON one such radio show, a listener called to discuss the cause of the vandalism at Iolani.
Basically, the story this person heard was that an Iolani student had keyed a number of Punahou students' cars at a party. Even if this were true, I cannot condone the reaction of those Punahou students. If the "Punahou 12" were actually reacting to the keying, they should have dealt with that Iolani student, not the whole Iolani community.
Two large communities are being maligned by a small number of irresponsible people. This sort of thing is not restricted to Hawaii, but goes on all over the world.
Don't allow yourself to fall victim to a stereotype. Instead, strive to show your good side and make your own reputation.
Create a great label that you and your community deserve.
Justin Shizumura is a junior at Iolani School. Rant & Rave is a Tuesday Star-Bulletin feature
allowing those 12 to 22 to serve up fresh perspectives.
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