The Day After

I wrote this the day after the election 4 years ago:

My Choose Love work and social emotional learning matters more than ever now, just like my service-learning work mattered so much during the Bush years and especially after 9-11 and during the Iraq war. This is what will keep me moving forward, keep me going, keep me hopeful in an America I no longer recognize this morning. But when I work with the keiki [children], it will come back to me — my fortitude, the courage to keep going for them and for their futures. There is much to be grateful for, still, much. Don’t lose sight of all that you have that is worth fighting for. If you are gay or a person of color or a woman or an immigrant, know that more people voted FOR you than against you and you ARE the majority in this country no matter what your President may espouse. Be courageous, stay grateful, forgive this horrible event and be compassionate moving forward with actionable deeds that continue to move us in a positive direction. Don’t give up on climate change!! Forge ahead!! All of this is what it takes to CHOOSE LOVE!!! Let’s do it!

I am thankful for love. What an amazing “thing” love is. It is not an emotion, I think it is its own entity, like God, and they say God is love, and to me, love is God. It is all that matters. It makes all the difference. It keeps us alive and it lives in us all, yes ALL, and it has unlimited potential. Let’s seize that potential and if we do, the world will be a more peaceful place and we will be full.

I begin by realizing, deeply feeling, and gratefully acknowledging my love for all of you. Thank you. May love and peace fill your hearts and mind while hope leads with intention!

Kelley Lum Oshiro served as the Hawaii Ambassador for the Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement since its inception in Hawaii in 2015 until her recent retirement during the summer of 2020. The organization’s mission is to ensure that every child has access to social emotional learning and to facilitate this teaching through schools, communities and families. As such, she extended her services to all teachers and administrators on all islands.

As Executive Director of the Hawai‘i non-profit, Youth Service Hawaii, Kelley engaged youth as active, compassionate citizens through service-learning. She was also Program Director for Epic ‘Ohana Conferencing, where she developed and successfully implemented a new program for youth aging out of the foster care system.

Kelley’s passion for working with youth has also involved her as Peer Mentor for the Pacific Regional Center, National Service-Learning Exchange, and with or on the following steering committees and advisory boards: Make a Difference Day Hawaii, Aloha United Way Youth Day of Caring, National Youth Service Day, Hawaii International Education Week, Ewa Weed and Seed, Hawaii State Service Learning Conference, and the Governor’s Conference on Volunteerism. She is also the author of “Letting Go: A Memoir,” and the singer-composer of songs on a CD produced as a legacy to her children, “Butterflies and Babes.”