Today (March 24) as over a half a million young people and their supporters filled Washington, D.C., and major cities around the nation, for March For Our Lives rallies, I feel compelled to write about my feelings about it. So here goes.
First, I know the pain of losing a child. It is the nightmare that keeps on giving, and it never ends.
My child was politically active, a registered voter. She was 18 and was excited about voting for the first time. She passed before she got the chance. After she passed, students at Kauai Community College rallied, and were able to work with all sorts of government officials to realize her dream of a bus pass for all students.
In her memory, the Kaulana Pass was born at KCC. It still exists today and helps many students afford the bus to get to school easier during the semester. Kaulana won the Mokihana scholarship and she would now have been a graduate student at Cornell University. She would have been 26 today.
My daughter Kaulana stood up at a House meeting at the state Legislature, and formally testified after helping to write a bill to prevent discrimination in housing in Hawaii with bipartisan support by Kauai and state legislators. That bill never passed. It was killed on third reading. She spoke in a dignified, calm, respectful manner. She asked legislators to listen to her, and youth, and how they felt. Like the youth that spoke today. She was not listened to.
I wrote a song for Kaulana called “Ua Hanau Ka Moku,” which was put to music by dear friend Daniel of the Kauai Earth Choir. Recently they performed it for their seventh anniversary concert, and a few days ago Daniel sent me the video.
When I was her age, I was never politically active. Politics was not something I ever thought about.
I have not written a letter to The Garden Island for a very long time. But today, as I wrote this, I am inspired by the hope that all youth in this country every day, quietly and without fanfare, do good works, acts of kindness, and help their fellow man in a million ways.
Whether it is simply a Kauai kid respectfully still saying “Auntie” and “Uncle” when they meet someone older than them, or it’s a Kauai youth who volunteers to do something good in their community, or it is a Kauai kid who takes care of a family member, be it a tutu, or a parent or a sibling.
These are the unsung heroes of our youth. And I feel they should be unsung no more.
The youth that marched today did so respectfully, without violence, without name calling or abuse or bullying. They were completely unselfish in their actions. They did not care about their cellphones. Or what test they needed to study for. Or what the latest gossip was. Or what they were wearing. Or how high their truck could go. Or who they were dating.
They put all that aside for one moment in time to come together. All races, all colors, all religions. They put aside all differences to stand united and together. We should look to their example and follow their lead.
And now, these youth will become voters. That in itself is a miraculous inspirational event.
I know Kaulana is smiling wherever she is, and she hears those voices when they sing her song. When I see that video, I again become inspired.
Perhaps they are all together watching, and smiling down at us.
Mahalo a nui loa.
•••
Anne Punohu is a resident of
Lihue.
