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Evan Leong: When was it that you thought that being a politician was okay?
Daniel Inouye: I think my parents would have approved anything that I wanted to be. They had that much faith. But they would have preferred that I… well, my mother wanted me to be a minister. This is what happened, before I began my surgical work, a rehabilitation work to face a panel of experts to determine my future, and after several consultations and examinations and taking tests, the panel concluded that number one I should be a teacher, if not a social worker, third a minister or fourth a politician. And one thing in common: you deal with a lot of people. They said I would be very unhappy doing research all by myself in a laboratory. But I would be in my best element if I dealt with a large number of people. So when I told that to my mother, wow, she was enthralled because my mother has an interesting story on her side. She was an orphan at four. She spent a little while at Susanna Wesley Home and Orphanage. And she was adopted by the bishop of the church. And so it was bible reading and singing every night for her. So she wanted me to be a minister.
Evan Leong: So did you or your family feel any tension between the religion you were brought up in?
Daniel Inouye: I was brought up as a Christian, a Methodist. My father was brought up as a Buddhist but my mother was very strict. When my father said, “May we go to lunch?” she says, “You want to take me to lunch? You get baptized first.” She was a member of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union and they don’t get any tougher than that.
Evan Leong: What do you think is the most important thing that your mom taught you?
Daniel Inouye: My mother was always very generous with me. But she always told me that as the eldest son you must sacrifice. You must never bring shame to the family. And whatever you do, do your best. And she said never be unkind. She always said there’s always a tomorrow. I’ve always applied that.
Kari Leong: You have mentioned about being a leader to your staff and also Hawaii looked at you as one of our leaders and you’ve also dealt with many leaders being in politics. What are five traits that you think a person needs to have to be an effective leader?
Daniel Inouye: Well my mother at a very early age, and I’m talking about 2 or 3 years old, pounded into me that no one is too good for you and you’re not too good for anyone else. Titles are titles. It’s what’s inside of you that counts. And after a while you begin to believe that. And I believed that. So I find it comfortable sitting down with CEOs, sitting down in interviews or with kings or prime ministers. They have their problems and emotions; I have my problems and emotions. And as long as I treat them courteously and decently, I would expect that from them too. My mother taught me a good lesson; no one’s too good for you. And don’t be afraid.
Evan Leong: Are we able to go back a little bit and talk about the 442nd to bring people to speed who may not be familiar with it; as you’re looking back at it now, how has that affected your life today?
Daniel Inouye: Immensely. Well first of all, to be a youth of 18, I was 17 at that time, and be told in your face that you’re an enemy alien; my neighbors are good; all very friendly. But to have the government of the United States; the country you love tell you that you’re enemy alien; that’s a bull. Then they tell you that you can’t serve in the military because you can’t be trusted and so when the regimen was formed, it was a natural thing for the men who volunteered, they did so for one reason, to prove that they were just as good as anyone else. Good Americans. And so when we were given assignments, we never complained. And we got the assignments to rescue the lost battalion, the attitude of many of the men was simple; this is what we wanted. This is our opportunity. Well in a battle that lasted four and a half days; five days; our casualties exceeded 800 and out of that number out of 200 dead. Now compare that to today. Two dead today, three yesterday, we had over 200 in four days. But as a result, at least in the military family there, no one said we were not Americans.
Evan Leong: Are you comfortable with that? Taking us through what it was like before and the story behind it?
Daniel Inouye: Well the big day for me is April 21st because on this day I received my last wound. And the last wound, I blew my arm off. So that meant I can never be a surgeon. You see I wanted to be an orthopedic surgeon. I had it all figured out but that was out of the question. And I’m going to tell you something that very few people are aware of. In World War II, when the battles were so intense and so large, the casualty rates were in the hundreds of thousands. And these field hospitals really weren’t able to accommodate them. We had no helicopters. In my case, I was evacuated at three o’clock in the afternoon. I got to the field hospital at midnight; nine hours. So when you get to the hospital, you got a whole bunch of people on stretchers. And a crew comes along; a couple of physicians and a couple of attendants. And they look at this and say, “Tent number one, tent number two, tent number three…” and do you know what that meant? One, in that case, meant treat them right away. Number two means take it easy because this one can last a long time. Number three; forget it, that’s on the verge of death. I was in tent number three and the chaplain came by and he says, “God loves you.” And I said, “I’m certain he loves me. But I’m not ready to see him yet.” And he looked at me and he says, “You know I believe you.” I said, “Yes I got a whole life ahead of me.” So I went to tent number one.
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Writer Profile
Jay-R Patron
Jay-R Patron, 24 years old, currently works as content provider for a multinational IT consultancy firm, under its interactive marketing department.
He was a writer for Hawaii-based Greater Good Inc., a media company behind the much-acclaimed Greater Good Radio. The show promotes social entrepreneurship and servant leadership.
Jay-r is a Journalism and Communication and Media Studies graduate from the University of Southern Queensland.
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Comments
meddahi | Sep 8th, 2007
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم والصلاة والسلام على أشرف المرسلين وعلى آله وأصحابه أجمعين أما بعد .. ببعد التحية والسلام على أهل المحبة والإكرام
لقد أضفت إلى القصيدة 16بيت من الشعر أرجو أن تنال إعجابكم وبجانبي
صديقي الحميم
وهو طالب نجيب ذو قريحة قوية تعتمد على الحفظ والإستذكار
أتمنى له كل التوفيق ولكل الدارسين والدارسات آمبن
والله ولي التوفيق
الشاعر العصامي مداحي العيد هذه القصيدة من بحر الطويل 28/08/2007
قد انحــدر الدمــع من الأحـــداق ..... فـما أصـعـب الوجــد بعـد الفـراق...
لقد أرقــتـني بهـــواها في ليال قد....... عــوى الذئــبُ فيها من الإشتياق ...
فـما أعــــذب الحــبَّ إذا كان وافيا ....... تُـتـــمّهُ مكــــــــــارم الخـــلاق....
فذبت كما الشمع يذوب على ثوب......... العشيق ولـم يـدر من الإرهاق....
ولولا المحـــــبة التي ليَّـنت قلبا ........... فصارت عواطفه مثل البراق....
لكان الفؤاد كصوان الجـمادات .......... على النار يرمـــونه للإحتراق....
فأصبح من هوى الحبيبة عاطلا ......... كطــير أصـيبَ في جناح الأفاق....
فزالت عزائم الحــياة من القلب .......... تفـتَّتَ جــسم الفـتى كـالأوراق....
وما أهون الحبََّ الذي كان مبنيا ......... على النــــفع هيـّنٌ كمثل النفاق....
وما الحبُّ إلا نخلةٌ سمقت تُعطي......... لكُلّ مــن الأجــــــيال تمر المذاق.
وحر الهوى أذاب قطب المشاعر ........ كنـهـر جرت مياهه في السواقي
نمت به أشجار تــــدلت ثمارها ......... من الغصـن تـُقطـف من الإلتصاق ...
فكــيف سنشـعــر بقيمتـنا إن لم ......... نُـفـعــّلْ مــحـــــــبةً نأت بالطلاق ...
وهل ينفع العــناق إن كان قلبكَ ......... بعـــيدٌ كبعــد المشـــرقين واقي ...
إذا كان حبهم من القــلب يمكث .......... إذا بقيت أرواحــهم في الرماق ...
ونحن نحبذ المحـــبة إن كانت ........... مصـــادرها منــــابع الأشـواق...
إذا ما صفا القـــاعُ رأيتَ لآلئا ........... بريـقٌ صفــاؤها مع الماء راقي ....
لقد حيّرت بحسنها أعيُنا راغت......... إليــها بـــــــــلا رويــة كالبُــراق...
ولولا الغرام ما عرفتُ المحبة ........ التي شغــلت قــلـبا يريد التـلاقي...
فتى ً قد أصيبَ قلبُهُ من كدر الهوى...... هُمومٌ تراكمت على الأعناق...
لقد أرّقــــته أحـــــــــلامٌ تركّـبت........ من العشق إستحسانُه كالمذاق...
أتت تشتكي من شغف الحبّ قد أذى ..... مشاعرها من لوعةِ الإشتياق..
فقلتُ لها إصبري على العشق صبرا قد.....تنالين منه عـــزّةَ الأخلاق...
بكت من حرارة الجوى أدمُعا كوت ...... فؤادي ووجداني من الأعماق...
وقالت فكــيف يصبرُ القلبُ قبل أن ....... يرى القلبَ راض أمام الرفاق..
تحسرتُ باكــــيا علـيها وكـيف لا ...... تســيل دُمـــوعُنا مـن الأحداق
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