Paradise 2009

I am back from paradise and as before I would like to take a little time and reflect on the experience and how what I saw relates to the spiritual and financial world around me. We rented a beach house in the tiny village of Milolii (pronounced Me-Lo-Le-E), located at the foot of a 1,500 foot cliff on a black lava flow. The North section of the village is a small, scattered, development of weekend getaway cottages and vacation rentals. The South end is a rural native Hawaiian hamlet that styles itself, “The last fishing village in Hawaii.” This place is really at the end of the road or perhaps at the end of the rainbow. They did not even have electricity until 2004. There are no wells or city water. Homes have catch water tanks that capture the rain that falls on the roof of the house and main water tanks that are filled by water trucks. Our little house is a bungalow located on a lava shelf about 100 feet from the ocean. It is about a 12 foot drop from the lava to the water. Since the house uses post and beam construction the entire wall facing the Ocean is either glass or screens. Every morning I would rise before sunrise and sit in a very comfortable chair facing the ocean and drink my morning cup of coffee as the light of the sun came over the mountain behind me; nothing but the sound of the ocean, the spray from the waves hitting the rocks, and the endless expanse of the Pacific. There were usually no boats or swimmers to be seen, especially at that hour. It is a wonderful place to unpack the mind and heal the soul and the body, but there is nothing there but the rocks and the ocean. It is the kind of place Hawaiians go to get away from it all. I heard this from both a native Hawaiian camper and an Anglo-Hawaiian artist with a gallery in Kailua town (the local tourist trap). If you are looking to be entertained, or if you are afraid of spending time with yourself you would probably be happier somewhere else.

Hawaii’s economy is really a two legged stool. By far the largest component of the economy is government. Most of that is the military presence on O’ahu (Pearl Harbor). The second big component is the tourist business. Since the land is so valuable and the labor rates are high, agriculture (traditionally the third leg of the stool) has shrunk to a very small shadow of its former position. I picked up a hitch hiker who looked like a homeless guy. He turned out to be a farmer who owned a small coffee and macadamia nut holding. He is working to return 20,000 acres of the Big Island to agriculture. Currently, he informed me, the Big Island imports 85% of its foodstuffs. The island could easily be self sufficient and he is working towards that end. It is a goal that he will likely never reach, barring some world catastrophe, since it makes no economic sense. I really enjoyed this ride with an interesting, intelligent, and articulate man. He came back to Hawaii from a very bad experience in Vietnam. At first, he told me, he didn’t do so well but eventually he found the healing he needed.

I think the average Hawaiian is doing better than the small businesses that service the tourists or the state government. The unemployment rate in the state of Hawaii stands at 7.5%, about 2% below the national average. This is not good, but not a disaster. The tourist trade has dropped measurably. Since the profitability of the hotels is based on occupancy and room rate some of them are in a bit of trouble or even chapter 11 bankruptcy, but they appear to all be still in operation. I saw one large resort development that was abandoned after the foundation was poured, but only one. Want to buy a prime commercial site zoned for a resort hotel in Kailua cheap? Talk to me. Real Estate in general and commercial real estate in particular has dropped in value. Anyone could see this coming. Property was appreciating at rates of 13% per year. In our last visit to the island a local business man told me this was unsustainable. He was right.

There are a lot of empty store fronts in the big strip malls. The chain stores and franchise businesses are doing OK. The high end shops at Waikaloa Village are doing OK. The rate of growth out there is noticeably slower but everybody seems to be surviving. The rich Japanese tourist still must have money to spend. Waikaloa Village must be seen to be believed. It is a completely over the top Hawaiian version of a Las Vegas hotel complete with a canal and motor boats to take you from building to building (really). Every day at the local Walmart (save money live better) looks like the height of the Christmas rush. It is the small businessman who has taken it on the chin. The tourists aren’t coming in past numbers and those that are, including yours truly, are not spending as much money on discretionary extras. How bad is it? Last year United Airlines was running a daily Boeing 777 flight (about 370 passengers) from Chicago to Kailua Kona. Now that flight runs only two days a week. One very unhappy employee of Hilo Hattie’s, the ultimate mid level Hawaiian gift store now in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, told me the number of cruise ships visiting Kailua by mid October in 2008 was about 220. This year the number has dropped to slightly over 70. The hotel occupancy rates are down from a tradition level approaching 80% to something closer to 55%. An empty room earns nothing but still costs to maintain. Room rates are dropping but the rooms are still empty.

The loss in revenue is killing the state government. Friday public school furloughs were the big news item when we were out there. Parents were jumping up and down in rage. However, the children playing in the surf did not seem to mind the extra days of vacation. Hawaiians, as a group, are still remarkably laid back, although perhaps not quite as laid back as in years past. There are growing but not yet serious stresses between the ethnic communities. Some native Hawaiians have bought into the Hawaiian sovereignty movement and look to return to the time of the kings. Haole (white) businessmen grumble about native Hawaiians and illegal Pilipino immigration. The folks in Waiohinu, a small farming town near the South end of the island complain about the poverty, trailer trash, drug addicts, and criminals from Ocean View, the next town up the road. The folks in Ocean View blame the latest house robberies on the drug addicts from Milolii.

The economy has stressed everybody a bit, but the crime rates and stress levels in Hawaii are still so far below those of the mainland they really can’t be compared. Hawaii has had a methamphetamine drug epidemic that seems to be running its unfortunate course, as these things do. It is a particularly addictive destructive drug. As such drugs spread their victims tend to end up dead or in prison and the word gets out that the drug is every bit as dangerous as your parents are telling you. Demand decreases and the epidemic contracts, leaving the dead, ruined lives, and misery in its wake. I spoke with a psychologist who works with at risk children and abused women. She says you have to be careful asking a Hawaiian if they use drugs. They do not consider Paca Lolo (marijuana) a drug. Dat’s just the herb, brudder.

I find that Hawaii, particularly the Big Island, is a special place of healing, at least for me. I always feel better, eat better, exercise more, and find time for mindfulness when I am in the islands. On our first day in Milolii I saw a rainbow, not an unusual event in Hawaii, but this rainbow looked to end just about 20 feet out in the ocean near our house. I never before found myself literally at the end of the rainbow. I think that is symbolic of something.

John 14

[27] Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.