By Lee Cataluna
Advertiser Columnist

Many arguments could be made as to where the soul of the city of Honolulu is located.

My vote for the place where our deepest emotions, our strongest desires and our good and bad intentions are played out would be Pali Longs. If it's happening at Pali Longs, it's affecting every aspect of life in Honolulu. Maybe the whole world. Maybe.

With that imperfect theory in mind, a quick reconnaissance mission to Pali Longs Friday morning revealed a comforting sight: a shelf full of Charmin, MD and Scott.

It looked as though the ominous talk of hoarding and shortages that took up the first block of every local newscast for the last two weeks had been vastly overstated. Nice to know that Honolulu folks didn't freak out. Nice to know that people aren't panic-buying and causing a run.

But then, reality hit hard. At Pali Safeway right next door, there was Diamond G aplenty, Spam to feed the masses, but the Charmin aisle was bare.

Big sigh.

In Hawai'i, we struggle between our trusting, hopeful, generous spirit — the aloha spirit in each of us — and the human frailties of fear and greed. We really don't want to wheel out of Costco with the 64-pack of toilet paper (shame! what will people think!) but we do it anyway because we just can't stop ourselves from worrying.

The hard truth we all realize on some level is that by panicking and hoarding, we're taking the possibility of a shortage straight to the reality of a shortage. If we all could agree to buy only the Spam and rice and Charmin we need, we could get through this time of limited supply.

Thankfully, Governor Cayetano worked out an agreement to exempt Hawai'i-bound ships from the lock out.

We'll still have to wait for the next ship of goodies to arrive, but at least we know it's going to come. During this next week or so of waiting, perhaps it would help to light some candles, make a journal entry, smell some fruity smells and reflect on words of wisdom from some of Oprah's favorite guests, like this from Neale Donald Walsch, author of "Conversations with God":

"True abundance has absolutely nothing to do with what we have and everything to do with what we are being."

As' right, yeah? Or check out this comforting thought from Wallace D. Wattles:

"The universe desires you to have everything you want to have."

See? The universe desires us to have Spam! How cool is that?!

"Everything you need you already have." — Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

OK, maybe that one is a little hard to hold on to if you're looking into a bare bathroom cabinet.

If all else fails, perhaps these affirmations can give strength while we wait for our ships to come in:

• I have more than I need in every area of my life.

• I open myself to receive the abundance of the universe.

• For crying out loud, it's just toilet paper. We're gonna be OK.

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com