Page 2 - MidWeek Kauai - Aug 31, 2022

2 KAUA‘I MIDWEEK AUGUST 31, 2022
Nameless But Not Forgotten
No one deserves to be a fatherless person. — Oleksandr Dovzhenko (Ukrainian writer, cinematographer)
When I was a child, I was fascinated by reading about royal families and exploring their genealogy trees. One day, I decided to create one for my family. Everything began easily, but only to the stage of great-grandparents. That was because I did not know those who preceded them, and even my grandparents couldn’t pro- vide this information.
had been born.
In the attic, we found a
TBallot Blues ’22
he votes are in, and the real winner locally was ...
wooden chest. Opening it, we found an embroidered dress (a vyshyvanka, a traditional national Ukra- nian costume), which my grandfather’s great-grand- mother had sewn herself. The moment I touched it, I felt myself a little girl fi- nally holding the threads of direct connection to the suffering, the resilience, the care and love of part of her ancestry.
The author’s grandfather gifted
her a vyshyvanka, a traditional h
COURTESY KATHERINE BAKAI C
to preserve our family her- itage. A precious memory of them is encoded in this vyshyvanka, which waited in a chest for 150 years to unite me and my nameless, but
Katherine Bakai lives in Kyiv, Ukraine. She is studying international law at Kyiv-Mo- hyla Academy.
Chasing The Light is pro- duced by Lynne Johnson and Robin Stephens Rohr.
“ainokea.” Yes, the “who cares?” attitude prevailed
Ukranian outfifit that his own great-
once again in our August primary election as about 60% of registered voters opted not to vote. And that num- ber doesn’t include those who could have voted but didn’t even bother to register. One can extrapolate that the actual number of those eligible to vote — and who actually did vote — might be in the 30%-35% range.
U
grandmother sewed. PHOTOS
g
Theories abound as to why people don’t vote, but it sure was easy this time. The election was on a Saturday and most people could simply mail in completed ballots they’d received in the weeks preceding Aug. 13.
As I got older, I learned that many of our relatives had died from famine or were exiled, so the memory of them has not survived. With deeper knowl- edge of the Ukrainian history of repressions, my desire for creating a family tree grew dimmer.
When the Rus- sian-Ukrainian war broke out in February, my grand- father called me and said that if something happened suddenly, he would like this vyshyvanka to stay with me so I could bequeath it to our future generations through the
never forgotten, ancestors.
While some remain unenthused about taking time out from hectic schedules to vote on November’s Tuesday general election day (hint to decision-makers: make all elections on a Saturday), registering to vote and then not even scratching in some boxes on a ballot and putting it back in your own mailbox is a head-scratcher.
centuries and honor the mem- ory of our ancestors. That day I received one of the greatest missions of my life.
Some may worry about possible voter fraud, notwith- standing the facts confirming no widespread fraud being found (again) during the 2020 election in state after state, precinct after precinct — blue, red and everywhere in between. This is apparently the latest price we pay in a post-truth democracy. Genuine, sincere indifference amid rampant mistrust.
But one day my grandfa- ther and I went to clean the abandoned house where he
Now at age 20, I finally re- alize that knowing the names of those who came before me was not absolutely necessary
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Fill in the blank cells using numbers 1 to 9. Each number can appear only once in each row, column, and 3x3 block. Use logic and process of elimination to solve the puzzle. The difficulty level ranges from Bronze (easiest) to Silver to Gold (hardest). Answers are on page 7
RATING: BRONZE
Granted, some local races were not scintillating. Sometimes dinner’s not scintillating, yet eat we must. Democracy is messy and negative campaigns abound (as they have in America for 240 years), but civics has sadly become just an afterthought for far too many, alongside empathy and respectful listening skills.
A more vigorous two-party system locally might en- courage more interest, quality choices and action, but if ballots delivered on a silver platter (or via a white, red and blue USPS truck) isn’t enough to encourage registered vot- ers to set aside 15 minutes, you wonder what it will take.
In 2020, 70% of registered voters here voted, partly due to the national election reality show (contrived, like all reality shows) that titillated even jaded habitual nonvot- ers. Some folks want to make voting easier; others, more difficult. Most foreign democracies trounce us in voter turnout. There’s more information available on issues and candidates than ever before — some of it is actually factu- al. So, how do we turn this disillusionment, muck and ap- athy around? Or must “ainokea” continue to win handily?
Think about it.
with Katherine Bakai
john@thinkaboutithawaii.com