How can we be independent & self-sufficient?

“How can we be independent and self-sufficient?” This question is energetically posed to us by LouAnn Ha’aheo Guanson, director of the Pacific Justice & Reconciliation Center in Honolulu, Hawai'i. She is former vice chair of the National Council of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, and also former vice president of the International FOR.

The “we” LouAnn refers to are people adhering to the ideals of Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi, two prototypes she and her co-workers follow in working with indigenous and other populations at the University of Hawaii, on the outskirts of Honolulu in homestead communities, and wherever the need seems to be. “It’s hypocritical to accept government money for what we do,” she says, since the government is so much a part of the problem.

There is one past U.S. governmental figure, however, who is special to LouAnn. She takes an annual spring pilgrimage with others from the Center to New Jersey and New York sites that were special to President Grover Cleveland, to lift him up, because in 1893 he asked for a day of prayer for Hawai'i.

The Center, which is an affiliate of FOR, commemorated in January 2008 the 115-year struggle to bring reconciliation between the church and the indigenous population. Its programs are highlighted by Peace Martial Arts and a reading program centered around the teachings of Gandhi and King (donations of books are welcome.)

Back to the question — How can we be independent and self-sufficient? — especially pertinent during this time of economic tumult. If you have ideas on this theme, please make them part of the mix by sending them to the blog.