Aloha!
As we enter the heart of the holiday season, I ask your indulgence for this end of the calendar year message…
Several years ago, the Hawai‘i Department of Education began developing what might have been a replacement for the DOE’s General Learner Outcomes (GLOs). Although the GLOs had been widely used throughout the DOE, there was a belief that learning outcomes from Hawai‘i should reflect the very best of Hawai‘i. To that end, members of the Board of Education as well as DOE staff members (including staff from the DOE’s Office of Hawaiian Education) worked with other stakeholder groups to develop what would become Na Hopena A‘o.
Na Hopena A‘o focuses on the acronym, BREATH which speaks to the strengthening of one’s sense of Belonging, Responsibility, Excellence, Aloha, Total Well Being, and Hawai‘i. The Hawaiian word for breath is Hā, and this is how most who are familiar with Na Hopena A‘o refer to it.
The final creation, Hā, had such sweeping implications, the DOE did not replace the GLOs, but rather has been working to have the Hā framework go far beyond expectations for students, staff and schools. In short, Hā should be the framework used not only in our schools, but also in our communities, our businesses, our government, and our daily lives.
While I’m not sure that we have succeeded in making Hā common knowledge, I have found that the profoundness of this work lives in its simplicity: when we strengthen our belonging to our people and our community, we share a responsibility to them. When we strengthen our responsibility, we work to fulfill this with excellence. If we are all trying to fulfill our responsibility with excellence, it helps us feel aloha for and aloha from those to whom we belong. This supports our individual and collective total well being, and as we are island people, this supports the essence of being from Hawai’i. All the pieces fit together, and all are dynamic in that we are always needing to strengthen each and all. If any part of our BREATH is lacking, we cannot sustain ourselves. Hā is not just necessary for life, it is necessary to live our best lives.
The “Hopena” in Na Hopena A’o always stood out to me because the only other time I had seen that name was when my nephew was born. Fullerton Hopena Kahui Pokipala embodied the essence of Hā throughout his life. Unfortunately, he died earlier this year, and it was only at his celebration of life that I fully realized this delightful soul had been a living example of how to live with Hā.
Beyond our family, he belonged to so many communities that it is hard to name them all. In each and every one, it was clear that he understood his responsibilities and fulfilled them with excellence. Given all the stories that have been shared about him, his aloha to one and all was always easy to feel. He made his commitment to living fully and maintaining his total well being look easy, and based on outreach from people around the world, he was quite an ambassador of Hawai‘i. At his service, the kahu spoke about how one’s life may have a fixed beginning date and a fixed end date, but the dash between the two is what matters most. I believe that for all of us, that dash is our Hā. How we use each breath and how we live with BREATH matters. Hopena’s breath may have ended, but his Hā lives on in all of us who were gifted with his presence in our lives.
May you continue to find ways to strengthen your Hā for now and always.
