I’m old enough to have been through a few crises.
1971 Dock strike - the mother of all toilet paper (and Spam) hoarding. Hawaii is a group of islands, everything is shipped. 130 day strike.
When I was a kid, there was the Arab Oil Embargo in 1973 I didn’t drive, but my Dad was the spokesman for the local gasoline dealers and was on the TV news every night. Seemed bad, people couldn’t get gas.
Early 1980s recession in the United States - Tourism took a hit, therefore Hawaii jobs
There was the first New York Trade Center bombing in 1993
9/11 - that’s all you need to say.
2006 Kiholo Earthquake - Earthquakes are brutal, they hit with no warning and can do devastating damage in an instant. With Hawaii Island being so rural, no one is coming to help quickly.
Great Recession - Lost our home, lost our jobs, bankruptcy. We got through it, but still have the scars.
2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami and Hawaii Tsunami An entire house was washed in to Kealakekua Bay and the lobby of the King Kamehameha Kona Beach hotel was trashed weeks after it was renovated.
Hurricane Iselle 2014 - We’ve had a lot of near misses through the years on Hawaii Island, but this one was very close.
2018 Puna Lava Flow Even though the volcano is on the other side of the island to us, the volcanic haze was stifling. Tourism tanked, it was dangerous to go out side. We still have the big are purifier that we purchased - just in case. The volcano will blow again, hopefully when I’m gone.
Then there’s COVID-19. We’re still in the middle of this one. The numbers say this will be the worse. With social media and prevalent TV news (and Trump) it feels worse, though every crisis seems bad when you’re in the middle of the uncertainty and see no path forward.
Life is brutal, it makes no promises. Fall down 7 times, Stand up 8.
