Hawaii, The Beautiful Lie...

Hawaii... All kinds of thoughts come to mind when one hears that name, with few of them probably having anything to do with the 'real' Hawaii. After all, Hawaii is a state of mind, not just a state within the United States.
Hawaii is the eternal tranquilizer, putting people in a natural state of bliss, just by hearing its name.
Hawaii is where you're going to die—of happiness!

True, Florida may be a better known destination for those seeking a place with a mild climate to last out one's life.
Hawaii's not (yet) marketing itself as the final resting place for US Mainland's seniors.
So, let's look at Hawaii as a place not to visit, and certainly not as a place to come to to die, but as a place for those who already live here and for whom the dream that Hawaii is, or was, or could be is more fact-based.

After all, at the rate things are going, Hawaii may lose its dream aspect in the future, due to inadequate planning, inability to protect its environment, pandering to big business and 'developers,' and greed by the pimps who have turned this group of lush islands into the flophouse of the North Pacific.
Yes, indeed, one enduring myth is that Hawaii lies in the South Pacific. "Come for a visit to the warm North Pacific," probably didn't cut it with the advertising agencies and travel services trying to sell Hawaii.
So then, let's face it: Hawaii is a lie.

Don't get me wrong. Hawaii still is beautiful. I love these islands. Yet, when you live here you also begin to see things that slowly fill you with sadness. Things the ocean cannot wash out of your consciousness anymore, after a while. Look around, and what do you see? The steamroller of mislabeled urban renewal, coagulating the unique with the mundane, in its wake another office tower with a built-in Wendy’s. Project that against a backdrop of waving palm trees and mountain ridges as sharp as torn paper. Paradise is being paved over. And fast. Never mind. I am not complaining, just noticing. We’re alive and don’t need central heating. Not here, at ninety degrees Fahrenheit in winter.

The fertile red soil of the plains, where once sugarcane and pineapples waxed, colors a landscape rapidly being developed for urban housing. Trash is beginning to litter the roads, as do roadside signs from businesses that claim to have 'adopted' a stretch of roadway. Everything's for sale. Oahu is scrambling for space, and commuter communities are springing up everywhere as more visitors stay for good. Hawaii has no quota restrictions. Not for the influx of people. Not for the influx of cars. Not for the rate of development. It would be anti-American, but there aren’t jobs for everybody, and the roads are jammed. Affordable homes start at a quarter of a million dollars. Paradise will soon desist. Hawaii is an organism that needs visionaries, or its ecosystem will collapse. It may already be too late. Meanwhile, the politicians are getting rich. The developers are getting fat. The people are going bankrupt. The little children are neglected. The women are beaten. The prices go up. The quality of life goes down. Crime wins every time. I am not complaining, just contemplating as the sun shines.
And the breeze whispers.
Hawaii, the beautiful lie...

©2004 Rudolf Helder