Article from The Honolulu Advertiser

Oprah makes an Island connection

What: ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’
When: 4 p.m. tomorrow, Fox

By Will Hoover
Advertiser Staff Writer

When D learned that Oprah Winfrey was producing a movie based on Mitch Albom’s best-selling book “Tuesdays With Morrie,” the former Big Island resident was moved to write Winfrey a long thank-you note. The book, she explained, had been “a treasure, inspiration and comfort to me.”

Winfrey was moved in turn by her letter — so much so that she sent a film crew to D’s home, to tape part of a “Remember Your Spirit” segment scheduled to air tomorrow.

“Tuesdays With Morrie” (airs 8 p.m. Sunday on ABC) is the true story about Albom’s reuniting with his old Brandeis University professor, Morrie Schwartz, who at the time was dying of Lou Gehrig’s disease. The book chronicles their meetings and how Albom’s former mentor continued to teach him valuable lessons — this time about death, and life.

D, who grew up in Pahoa and Hilo, recounted to Winfrey the story about the death of her father, which parallels Albom’s tale, but with a few twists. D says Morrie Schwartz and her father — who died from lingering complications after being hit by a drunken driver — were kindred spirits, though from totally different backgrounds.

“Morrie Schwartz was a learned man, a professor; my father, Andy, dropped out of the ninth grade to labor in the Hawaiian cane fields.”

“Morrie: ‘Accept what you are able to do and what you are not able to do.’

“Andy: ‘Auwe! No can do dat anymo’. But try look, I still can do this.’

“Morrie: ‘Accept the past as past without denying it or discarding it.’

“Andy: ‘Pau da pas’ (the past is done.) Da pas’ is pas’. No can change ’em.’ ”

In the last years of her father’s life, she, along with her husband T, decided to begin making regular visits to Hawaii to spend as much time as possible with her dad. That decision turned out to be one that would alter her life in ways she would not have imagined.

“Before, we were all on our career tracks,” said D, an optometrist who left Hawaii for the Mainland in 1979. “I was very much in the groove of working. This made me step back and take notice of my life. I realized life is short. I no longer work as much as I did.

“Going back to Hawaii and spending time with my dad before he died made me see how much I identified with the Hawaiian value system. The main thing for me was getting back to my roots in Hawaii.”

This change caught her by surprise. While visiting here, D studied Hawaiian and has become devoted to teaching the basics of the language to others. Her life has changed from one of “achievement” to one of “serving.” Surprisingly, her work has improved because she says she now goes about her days with greater compassion, humility and gratitude.

But D was initially reluctant to do the Winfrey show.

“I work as a doctor,” she told the producer when she was first contacted. “I’m not sure I want my patients seeing me so vulnerable. The last time I spoke openly about my dad, I was sobbing.”

She concluded that the experience would be too emotional. But when the producer called again and asked D to do it for her dad, she relented. D’s segment was taped Nov. 20.

“Those last words clinched it,” she said. “For my dad, I would do it.”

 

 

   

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