At first blush Hawaiian residents seem less prepared than Californians to weather a natural disaster. The phone and power lines still hang on poles, making them more vulnerable and dangerous than if they were buried underground. Ramshackle structures that wouldn’t meet building codes on the Mainland can be found on all the islands.
On the other hand, no one died, no one panicked, and no one said they were victimized because government agencies weren’t responsive enough. Living in the middle of the Pacific conveys the sense that you’re on your own and that you have to work together because it will take a while for help to arrive.
It’s been said that trends start in California, and one can point to many examples where California has led the way in such disparate areas as technology, business, entertainment, fashion, and dining. But in a more important respect Hawaii is decades ahead of the rest of the nation. It is a working example of a melting pot, where different racial groups live in harmony.
My own take on why it works there is that everyone is in a minority but shares a common language and common cultural values. Also, each group can point to its own individual success stories, pre-empting the development of a resentful underclass. But enough of committing sociology.
At our family reunion in August we had many more mixed-race than single-race attendees in the generation after mine. That observation didn’t even occur to me until I started writing this post, and I don’t think anyone else noticed. © 2006 Stephen Yuen
My Family: perhaps earthquakes and the preservation of my net worth aren’t the most important considerations in deciding where to live.
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