Hawaii has been in the forefront in many respects when it come to tourism. Specifically, American tourism. From the earliest of my memories, hearing stories of how the steam ships would entice the haole to our shores with our fragrant pua and alluring wahine curves ~ the power of the haole currency has been a source of Hawaiii economy (notice I didn't say Hawaiian) and the poison of Hawai'i's Kanaka Maoli.
From a child I was told that my paternal grandfather - a full-blooded maka'ainana- believed the full potential of his existence (through the eyes of the Hawaiian slave owner) was to be either a taxi driver or a bell hop at the all haole hotels in Waikiki. I in turn was raised by parents who were conditioned into believing that the best and brightest hawaiians were those that towed the line - conformed to the haole identity of little houses with white picket fences. The American dream of opportunity was reserved for only attainable if you knew the right people, or if you didn't rock the boattoo much. On the contrary-if you accepted and took the blue pill and assimilated to the haole's plan of what was best for you, things wouldn't be so bad. You might make it.
The American dream in my hale wasn't one of success and riches. It was a story of servitude and submimssion, It was a dream that epitomized the original glass ceiling. You could see that the sky truly was limitless. However the glass roof was as thick as a full-grown banyan tree and hovered closely above the heads of the kanaka maoli.
As I sit on this aircraft making my pilgrimage back to my home, the place where the iwi of my ohana feed the aina, I think these thoughts. As I return to the place of my formative years where I learned to become a Hawaiian-American man. This place where I understood an first realized that my potential, despite the years of pre-conditioning to 'kick back and no make waves but go with the flow', is only truly stifled if I accept the limits that the haole-fied per-conditioned elders of my past espoused.
I finally realize that as a full-grown Hawaiian man, it is my duty to all other kanaka maoli of my koko to reject the thoughts that dare tell me that I am less then others. I will remind myself that I come from a lineage of hard working, industrous explorers.
The koko that runs through these veins bears the weight of warriors, kings, scholars and poets. I will not conform to any haole telling me that I am not Hawaiian because I speak up for myself. On the contrary, I am a coward from birth if I don't speak up. Kanaka maoli have lasted thus far in spite of every carnal attack from the idealisms and colonial thinking of every non-hawaiian that has occupied these islands who said that Hawaiians are lazy and stupid. I reject that! Devil, I rebuke you and your lies! And you are the stupid one if you think in this day and age, your same lame tactics will work on all of us. Hawaiians have traversed the previously uncharted Pacific seas to conduct world-class expeditions. All without the modern marvels and comforts of modern day nautical technolog And unlike the haole tactic of subversively undermine, assimilate, negate, then conquer--the warriors settled dispute more honorably. Combat. You knew where you stood. The were confrontational when it was warranted. If you were wrong, you were confronted. In today's vernacular, they 'kept it real'.
There are many traditions that have been lost. So much more that have been altered or changed to suit each generation. But there has always been one constant idealism from the first haole visitor. It has been the insidious idea that Hawaiians were put on this earth to serve. (In retrospect and looking at world history, this is common to the haole 'overthrow' mentality.) When I use the term 'serve,' I refer to the type of service that haole defines as 'the one with the big stick makes the rules--he who has the most things wins.' I was not put on this earth as a Hawaiian man to serve no one and nothing, but the purpose of God. To Him alone is my total submission given. I relinqush all my personal authority to Him. And if within this endeavor it becomes my conscious obligation and heavenly call to serve man as unto Him (and I know that it is in many respects), this I will eagerly and with my entire being do.
However-
I no longer will buy into the small lying voice that has always visited me, whispering that if I want to be a 'good hawaiian' or a 'better christian hawaiian' that I am to always choose the smaller portion of life's makana because of antiquated lies and thoughts that told me from small kid days that that's all that I could have. That that's all that I was worth. I reject that thinking from today on. I am embued by Ke Akua and strengthened by the rich heritage of ali'i, farmers, sailors, kahu, business men and women and a line of sojourners stretching back to the cradle of civilization. Kanaka Maoli - don't believe the lies of them that say you are not worthy. That malciously steal your kindness and create spears out of your ho'okupu and generous na'au to use against you. This is not my cry or a call to physically arm yourself against a physical opponent. Although the devil takes many guises.
Rather, this is a clarion call to rise up out of your apathetic slumber to take your place as the modern-day Hawaiian warrrior, to reflect the legacy of proud, goodly people, wise to the wiles of those who only see you as poor, dumb or subserviant. Rise up and kulia i ka nu'u. Look to the promise of the next rising sun for strength in mind, and remain steadfast. E'o, ka lahui.
No comments:
Post a Comment