Speech given by Speaker Emeritus Calvin K.Y. Say (Hawaii State House of Representatives) on August 17, 2014 at the Building Peace Forum’s 35th Anniversary of the Renewal of Diplomatic Relations between the United States & China in Pasadena, CA.
Ambassador Liu & Mrs. Liu, Congresswoman Chu, President Cai and Distinguished Guests:
Reflecting on the role of “Imagination in the building of Peace between China and the USA”: the power of Imagination and Creativity is also the power of Empathy.
There isn’t any possibility of building any kind of change and movement unless there is involvement in the experience of imagination, of hope, of seeing that which does not exist.
Example: We are all citizens of a country that does not exist. And this is the “best calling” we could have — to recognize that what we have, where we are, is not the best possibility, that we have the opportunity to create a more perfect union — that which does not exist. And for Premier Zhou Enlai and President Richard Nixon, that is the great use of imagination, “to know that that which does not yet exist, can exist”.
Imagination in a global movement for social change, for righteousness and unconditional love for mankind.
For thirty five years, we have been achieving peace for the global community. And Hawaii has played a Global role in the movement of Peace through the rekindling in law, the spirit of “Aloha”. Hawaii House Bill 2569-1986 means Kindness, Tenderness, Unity, Harmony, Agreeableness, Humility, Modesty, Patience, Perseverance — “the essence of relationship in which each person is important to every other person, for collective co-existence and Peace and Love” — so says Pilahi Paki.
