On Returning to My Islands
There is an awakening moment, every once in a while, when I am staring up into a tree and then suddenly notice all the fruit hidden among the leaves. Every time I come back to Hawai’i, it feels like that; I am comforted to be back home for the journey is over, yet I am amazed at all I have found.
In the year that I was in college on the mainland, what I loved to remember most was Keawewai, a spring that flows as a tiny waterfall down Waimanu Valley’s northwest wall. While there are more spectacular falls in Waimanu, Keawewai comforted me because it is so fragile yet is always there to greet me when I wash up on the shores of Waimanu. Each time I return, I am delighted that every little thing inside the spring is still there – the joyful splashing, the small taro shoots between the rocks, and the lush moss surrounding the spring where tiny snails live in a cleansed and calm world. It is soothing to rediscover Keawewai unchanged, and to feel that the spring will always be there for me. I never want to leave home and have to say a permanent goodbye to anything in Hawai’i.
These islands are the only parts of the world that I call “mine” – not because I own them, but because I feel like I am a tiny part of them. I see Hawai’i as an extension of my own body, or myself being a tiny detail in lush Hawai’i. In my lifetime here, I have found so many powerful areas that enrich my existence, and I hope I enrich these places in turn.
On the mainland, the culture is different. So much entertainment and pleasure relies upon how much money you have. There, my college friends go to movies, eat out, and shop. While that occurs here, too, in Hawai’i the best things in life are free. Growing up, my friends and I would go camping, swimming in the Wailuku River, and surfing for fun. We were never limited by how much or little money we had, but only by how adventurous we felt. The fact that we can have such generous gifts from nature instead of relying on money distinguishes our culture from the mainland’s.
Because of this, I cannot understand why anyone would want to come to Hawai’i solely to use it to make lots of money, when you can so effortlessly receive bliss! Here, you can dive into the ocean in winter to hear whales singing, or stand above a steep windy valley. Instead of taking from Hawai’i, I feel lucky to simply be a part of it.
This is why I write to you, in this newsletter that seeks to promote informed decisions in Hawai’i. I want everybody who lives here to know how to love it and never to overlook the beauty we are a part of.
Coming back to Hawai’i, the possibilities, sights, and sensations seem like new to me, but I have known their existence all along. This fall we should all “come back home” mentally and discover anew the gleaming days that surround. We should all strive to become part of the abundant Hawaiian joy.
— Emma Yuen
Volume 15, Number 5 November 2004
Leave a Reply