Mele Kalikimaka and Happy New Year

It hasn't been my typical December, so I haven't been able to blog as much as I would like, but January should put me back into a good routine.

For as long as I can remember, my family has done the same thing every Chrismas season. We exchange gifts at the same time, eat the same food on Christmas eve, Christmas morning, and for Christmas dinner and often go to see a movie at night. I've never felt like I was going through the motions, there always seemed to be the same anticipation. So you can imagine the bittersweet feeling when while last year's procedings were winding down my parents told the kids that for next Chirstmas they weren't going to be buying any gifts, but instead we were going to be going on a family vacation...to Hawaii.

There are few ways I can imagine to more completely break with tradition than this. No douglass fir, no lake effect snow, no wadded up wrapping paper fights. Instead there were palm trees, occasional clouds, and snorkeling. It was odd to say the least, but refreshing.

Now to the point before someone decides to make a trip to Chicago to break my legs. Hawaii is one of the poorest states in our country. There is a striking duality that many people overlook. A gallon of milk at the supermarket there is $4.50 after the discount for being a rewards member. The eyes of all the people from the mainland bug out when they see the prices and feel like they are being ripped off. But, they are only thinking of themselves, imagine the islanders who have to pay that much everytime because there are no other options. Nearly everything you get at a store must be literally shipped over, adding huge costs. The islands are great for growing fruit, but growing grain there would be difficult, so they even have to import bread. The tourists come and see how simple most people are living and can't understand why. The cost of renting an apartment with a kitchen, bathroom and small bedroom (not on the ocean) will cost $600 or more. Most island jobs don't pay exceptionally well either. A job with the same salary on the island has way less buying power than one on the mainland. Tourists come to the island to enjoy the weather and have a good time. They use up a good portion of the resources that are shipped over, thus making them more scarce, and thus raising the price. Think about taking a shower at your own house versus taking one at a hotel. At your own house you most likely will take a shorter shower because you are paying for it, if you take one at a hotel you might take a longer one because you either think you aren't paying for it or you think that the cost of it is included in the price so you want to get more for your money. It all comes down to caring for the place you are from more than you care about anywhere else in the world. But isn't this what Jesus' second commandment was all about?

The difficult issue in dealing with Hawaii's poverty is that tourism is vitally important for them to succeed. The islanders might not like some of the things that tourists do, but they accept it because they need these tourists to spend their money there so they can pay the shipping costs to get things they can't produce on island. In order to follow the commandment it means that we need to be good stewards both at home and on vacation. We can't just try to be stingy and get the most for ourselves. Whenever I went shopping on the island I looked for shops that were not chain stores and actually made their products locally in Hawaii. The reason for this is that every dollar I was spending was going to their economy (not taking a portion out for the corporate office) and so they weren't paying extra to ship something to the island so I could immediately take it off the island. I was trying to 'Do the Most Good' just like the Salvation Army. And just like every Christmas at home there were people ringing bells next to red kettles. It just goes to show that no matter how differant a Christmas it was the theme was still the same.