Hawai'i Topher: Memorial Day Lantern Floating...

On Memorial Day I went to Hawai'i's annual Lantern Festival. The website describes the festival in the following way:

Memorial Day in America is a day when people remember and honor those who have fallen in service to their country. In Hawai‘i, with its diverse population, traditions become easily adopted and assimilated into its rich cultural fabric. It is the norm for people in Hawai‘i, on Memorial Day, to place flowers and offerings on gravesites of loved ones who served their country as well as those of others who have passed away. With the wish of creating cultural harmony and understanding.

There were about 50,000 people at the festival and they all gathered for the same reason: to honor those that came before them. Hawai'i has been the most diverse place I've ever lived in, and for the most part, everyone is very accepting of other cultures/races.

It's a place where people can be very different, but yet, very much the same. People here often use race descriptions as purely that: a descriptor. It's hard to explain, but back on the mainland people seem to avoid these descriptors in order to avoid being offensive or to stay politically correct (whatever that means?). In Hawai'i, the phrase the white guy over there has the same undertones as if someone said the guy with the blue shoes. This reminds me of an experience I had with a patient recently. I said, "Mr. C. you'll have another appointment with Joe, a nice Japanese man such as yourself." He replied, "oh I'm not Japanese, I'm Korean." I then proceeded to apologize, but he cut me off and had the most gracious response I've ever heard when he softly said, "Don't worry, no need to apologize. Never forget that we're all just people...and people are all the same." Very true Mr. C. Very true.

Performers about to go on stage for the ceremony.

This lady wins for most beautifully decorated lantern, which she appears to be in remembrance of her father.
The baby also seems to think so.

Several canoes bring bring in hundreds of people's lanterns to kick start the 'floating' process. This is also helpful since the shores of the beach are very crowded with hundreds, if not thousands, of people all trying to get to the shoreline to float their individual lantern.