Past experiences guide our future
By Paul Kusuda

  What an achievement! How amazing! Heidi Pascual, Publisher & Editor of Asian Wisconzine, has edited and published
Asian Wiz for three years, and this issue marks the beginning of the fourth. The challenge was there, and she continues to
meet it. I, for one, am proud of her accomplishment and appreciate the effort she devotes to make her monthly contribution
on behalf of all those interested in issues and experiences relevant to Asians and Asian Americans.
 (Editor’s Note: Thank you, Paul!)
  January is the month to review what happened the previous year and to resolve to do better in the coming years.
Sometimes, resolutions are kept; other times, they're soon forgotten. January may be used as an occasion to look backward,
review events that happened, and look to the future. As always, we expect our plans will be modified by unanticipated
events. For some, life is just a crap-shoot. For others, plans may include allowances for anticipated obstacles.
 Before January comes along, some families make a relatively thorough review of their assets and liabilities. Not only do
they think about cleaning their homes, both inside and outside, they try to pay off their debts. Also, they may decide to write
off what people owe them. They may want to enter the New Year with a clean slate.
So, what has all that got to do with me? Well, (as President Ronald Reagan used to begin his answer to a tough question) I
thought about the mess in which decision-makers for the United States have placed our country — a lengthy war with
inevitable casualties. Our credibility and moral standing, as viewed throughout the world, have diminished greatly;
democracy has suffered as we emphasize security over civil liberties.
Domestically, we have a large national debt that keeps increasing. We neglect responsibilities to our elderly, people with
disabilities, children, unemployed and underemployed, war veterans, public education, people unable to meet health care
needs, and over-all well being.
 Our country's future does not appear to be very bright. Our leaders' efforts to extend ideas about democracy throughout the
world have been less than successful. Although we currently have leaders who work on behalf of the general public, they
are too few. More are needed among the ranks of those who are elected and those who are appointed. They are needed in
private industries and in private and public organizations. In short, we must have clear-thinking leaders who have the vision
of furthering the ideas of democracy that many of us hold as ideal.
This year, despite the many disparate public observations about youth of today, I have had the good fortune of talking with
many youth who show promise for the days ahead. Those are the youth (including our grandchildren) whom I have observed
as I've had within-family and intergenerational contacts with middle schoolers and high schoolers in the Metropolitan
Madison School District, the Monona Grove School District, and elsewhere. The potentials for leadership are great; they
show much promise of developing into outstanding leaders of tomorrow.
In the November and December 2007 issues of Asian Wisconzine (or Asian Wiz), I wrote about memories dredged up
through interviews with students of James Madison Memorial High School in Madison. Also, about every two years, I have
the opportunity to talk with advanced middle-school students who enroll in optional educational courses through the
Wisconsin Center for Academically Talented Youth (WCATY pronounced "Wicaty").
I have no idea how students apply for or are selected for WCATY coursework; however, I do know that they participate and
learn a lot, and they use their computers for Internet interchange of ideas. The students, as Garrison Keillor might say, are
all above average, strong, and good looking. They fit Keillor's definition of the people who live in his imagination. I
noticed, too, that they are diverse in terms of racial backgrounds.
 WCATY instructor Tom Sinks invited me to talk about some of the things that happened shortly after December 7, 1941,
when we were precipitated into a war with Japan and all 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry were uprooted from their
homes in California, Oregon, and Washington. Many were also evicted from the then Territory  of Hawaii. We, both aliens
and U.S. citizens, were sent to camps spread from California and Arizona, eastward and southward to Colorado and
Arkansas. We were deposited in 10 camps, called Relocation Centers, in seven states. We had some similar encounters,
some different; and we had many similar and dissimilar responses to those happenings.
My presentation to WCATY students sparked comments and questions. The students had made advance preparation by
reading “Farewell To Manzanar” by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston. They pointed out some occurrences
she had that were similar to mine. They expressed interest in the physical and social conditions, as well as relating the
history to the current situations of civil liberties relating to the war in Iraq. Clearly, the students related the past to today's
problems in international relations.
 Next month, I shall review some of the comments I and the WCATY students made during our consideration of the World
War II relocation experience.
Paul Kusuda's Column