From those very first moments, they have been there for us. If it is true that tragedy and grief bring with it the grace of unexpected guides, we believe that organizations such as these help begin the healing process. Their presence is lasting and life-sustaining, and we ask that as a community you support their every effort. We would also like to say mahalo to the media during this crisis. They were charged with the delicate art of balancing their responsibility to our community with a deep respect and compassion for those who have suffered the excruciating loss of someone they so dearly love.
Sorrow comes in waves.
It rolls over us. And though it seems never-ending and consuming, eventually it retreats. It is like diving into a raging sea, when if we are brave enough to travel to its depths, we find an ocean of calm, where life continues in a gentler, healthier way, a world that sometimes seems lost in sorrow. It is Hawaii's willingness to share this grief that holds within it the possibilities for each of us to heal and to preserve our Islands' unique diversity. Life will not go on in the same way now that each of these men is gone.