Today, more than any other time I can remember, the vision and mission behind Lantern Floating Hawaii ceremony is most appropriate.

It seems, when I hear leaders speak, news outlets reporting and people in the communities talking, that it’s much easier to hate than it is to love. The rhetoric being spread is asymptotic of the history of human beings who are supposed to be social in nature and that social interaction is one of good. We should be working together for a common purpose, to do what is best for the world and not just for ourselves.

This weekend is Memorial Day weekend, when we as living Americans can paytribute to those who came before us and either paid the ultimate sacrifice in a time of conflict or who served in uniform and passed away sometime later.

During this holiday weekend, millions will descend upon cemeteries across this nation and other parts of the world to remember their loved ones who have passed. Most of these people don’t know each other but have a common bond in that they, too, have lost someone who served their community, state, and nation in our armed forces. They all attempt to spiritually link themselves to their loved one through their presence near where they lay.

The Lantern Floating ceremony at Ala Moana Beach Park is exactly this, but in a heightened emotional, spiritual and physical expression of love and remembrance. We light a candle that illuminates our written messages and release this lantern out on the ocean toward our loved ones who have passed. We are all standing on the beach among people we have never met, for a common purpose, to remember and again get a little closer to those loved ones who have passed.

The Lantern Floating ceremony is befitting Memorial Day as we say mahalo to those that are no longer with us. Mahalo for laying the foundation of the past, and setting conditions for our future. We are not saying goodbye, because that would mean we will not see you again, but more so, we are saying until we meet in the next life. We are all saying a resounding, “We miss you, we are thinking of you, and we love you.”

If you have never participated in the ceremony on the beach, I encourage you to. There are very few ceremonies or events where all persons regardless of gender, ethnicity and financial status can come together and share in a common theme of peace and joining together as one. A very powerful feeling will overcome you and make you think about your life and experiences in comparison to the entire world. This ceremony opens up your aperture within your mind so that you can see so much more clearly the need for peace and togetherness throughout the world.

This meeting together on the beach at Ala Moana is very powerful in that it allows everyone to center themselves, emotionally, physically and spiritually, for a common feeling of peace in themselves, the state of Hawaii and, more importantly, throughout the world.

Maj. Gen. Arthur “Joe” Logan is the adjutant general for Hawaii, which includes overseeing the Hawaii Air National Guard and the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency.