Maui...Now We...

Lush, lavish, and untamed—ocean breeze beckons waves of relief as the Earth breathes out the exhaust of modern industrialization. This volcanic isle speaks against global distress, allowing us all to see how much we need to prize our true possessions and not those which can be bought and sold. We must prize our planet, its mystique and serenity all but lost if we don’t take a stand. What happens if we lose our bees? What happens if we kill the ocean? We cease. We stop. Who knows if we begin again? The probability factor is not in our favor.

I lie on the golden sand, nude on the Little Beach, reading and roaming my focus across the waves and clear blue saltwater up onto the cliffs of igneous rock. I remember how magnificent it is to simply be alive. I remember my responsibility to preserve this domestic paradise. I forget everything excessive in my life, everything unnecessary. I need only a small morsel--the same as all others yet they all do not have. This is why I am writing. I am reminding all. I am nudging everyone on the barrier to move towards the light—not the power plant but the sun. It is our only source and has been since our planet has been spinning and revolving. I am mentioning moments that shift my personal momentum so that the community might be moved. I am and we are, but it is not enough.

We must make change and not just in rhetoric, but in practice. We and I are intertwined forever. We are in this together. Watching the sea turtles swim beneath the surface, noticing me notice them, we look at each other. They are getting tumors on their heads from prodding human touch. We must stand apart and look, but not get too close. We must quit encroaching. I might be sounding a bit preachy. In fact, I know I am, but the situation is paramount. I want to rejoice not despair. I want to look forward with fantastic excitement not extreme trepidation. The only way this becomes possible is when we become conscious of our participation in the process. We make choices that affect all and everything. We must choose in each individual circumstance with everything in mind, constantly. We must see what we are squandering and squashing. Once we become aware, everything can begin to move in a different direction.

Our choices come out of our awareness about the world in which we inhabit. When we make choices, we must remember this world has sections that are not in our immediate vicinity, pieces that some of us may never personally see, but we must still keep in mind when deciding which actions to take. The wind speaks in Kihei, Maui. It tells me the story of how to live, how to strive, how to give respect where it is due. I am prepared to keep this dialogue going as the trees sweep the words from the birds to my open ears. I will refrain from those choices I can’t fall asleep to, those decisions that turn the page in our story closer to its completion. I won’t allow it to end with our home diminished. What will you do?