Commentary
In a time of great danger, great opportunity

By John Griffin

"Isn't this a great time?"

The speaker was one of Hawai'i's most thoughtful businessmen commenting last week on the evolving situation since the Sept. 11 tragedies.

At first, I thought he was voicing a variation of the irony in the old Chinese curse: "May you live in interesting times."

For he is as sensitive as anyone to the horror of the terrorist hijackings and the toll of heartbreak and continuing fears. That plus the nation's economic recession with its special impact on Hawai'i.

But he was making a point more akin to another bit of folk wisdom: That the Chinese word for crisis is made up of characters for danger and opportunity.

In other words, mixed emotions are not only possible but perhaps necessary as we deal with a world that did not so much change on Sept. 11 as did our way of looking at it.

Some of those emotions are continuing sadness, vengefulness, fear of what violence could come next, and concern for continuing economic and political damage.

Still, excitement is also possible. This is in the potential for positive change here, in the rest of the nation and in our dealings with the world. That's what the businessman was saying as he walked toward a meeting on education.

So these are some of the brighter points I see, maybe not a full silver lining but better than the unremitting gloom that fell across the nation on Sept. 11:

• Hawai'i can reorder its priorities, even as we deal with the economic crisis. Yes, tourism revival remains vital. Military spending here, as elsewhere, should both increase and change. But outside events again dramatize the clear need to diversify our economy. That requires more support as the Legislature goes into its special session.

• The University of Hawai'i is getting more recognition both as a needed economic asset and as an institution that prepares our people to work and live in the 21st century. A revitalized UH should start emerging this year.

• Globalism as world economic activity took a hit along with much else on Sept. 11. It will come back. Yet a point also was made that the development we foster can leave behind too many have-nots in the undeveloped world. Afghanistan is an old-new metaphor, yet only an extreme case. (We have, incidentally, been its largest provider of foreign aid.)

• Foreign policy, too much neglected in the United States, has come back in the news and national mind. The Bush administration has moved away from its initial go-it-alone approach to the world cooperation needed. Great. Keep it up.

• A lesson in interconnections is being learned by all Americans — I hope. Anti-terrorism is now the understandable top priority with the Bush White House. Next the multilateral approach must be further extended to other areas: economic development and aid, the environment, etc.

• We are having what should be a healthy and necessary national debate on how to combat terrorism. The far right is still fighting the Cold War. The left is still struggling with Vietnam guilt. The new campaign (fewer people are calling it a war) against terrorism is a different kind of struggle involving changing coalitions of nations for each situation. We may or may not see large-scale military action. Restraint and good intelligence are required now.

• The American military, which seemed to be dragging its feet on reform and streamlining, is being forced into needed changes for a changing world situation. Leaner, keener and meaner are new watchwords.

• "Be careful what you wish for" is another much-used saying. But that may prove true for the likes of Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida. As the Pearl Harbor attack rallied Americans almost 60 years ago, so the Sept. 11 terrorism has awakened another kind of sleeping giant, a new world cooperation against terrorism and for reforms.

• American patriotism also emerged in ways that even impressed many cynics. Yes, it can be carried into jingoism, racism, lashing out or new isolationism. But I think the Bush administration has done well both in stirring pride and warning against any war against Muslims or Arabs.

• We are all getting a crash course in the diversity of South Asia and the theology and politics of Islam. Nothing focuses the mind like violence. At the same time, East Asia and the Pacific should get more American attention in the new Washington focus on partnerships. In fact, some of that coalition-building was already started by the U.S. Pacific Command here in Hawai'i.

No doubt this column would be far different in tone had I lost a friend or relative on Sept. 11 or lost my job in recent days. This critical aftermath will never be a good time for many people.

But for most of us, there should be those mixed feelings, honoring what's lost yet allowing for excitement about opportunities that emerge from tragedy.

John Griffin is a former Advertiser Editorial Editor. He writes frequently for these pages.