Coming Home to Maui
Coming Home to Maui
Talking Story with Philip Scott Waikoloa
“On a white sandy beach in Hawaii”
- Braddah IZ
We’re coming home to Maui; I you, he, she, they and us.
Most importantly the Born and Raised are coming home to a new vision of Maui. A new vision much like the one held by the Kanaka Maoli ancestors; an independent Maui only interdependent with the greater Hawai’i Nei.
This would be a new/old Maui that grows, hunts, fishes and herds and ultimately feeds its own; a sustainable Maui. This Maui won’t need barges from the US, diesel fuel for electricity or a cultural identity defined by a foreign culture.
These people have reawakened (or perhaps have just been silenced) to following Ua Mau Ke Ea O Ka ‘Aina I Ka Pono. Remember: The missionaries once outlawed the Hawaiian language. Successive generations of foreigners have sought to outlaw being Hawaiian at all. They also bought up land faster than the Kanakas could say “this isn’t right.”
The Kanaka Maoli and the Born and Raised are not an exclusive group. They seek to be inclusive. All who love Maui and the “Aina, those who wish to steward and nurture her, heal her and bring her home as we all learn to share her.
Many are returning to Maui from far away. One time tourists who had a love at first sight, travelers of the world who found “none bettah,” water folks, fisherman, farmers, and so on. Those who still believe it is their kuleana to contribute to Maui’s well-being in a myriad of ways: Spreading Aloha, nurturing the soil, cleaning up the ocean, cultivating community and envisioning Maui as a beautiful microcosm and model of sustainability for the world.
Within these folks are those who’ve chosen to turn their backs on the US and the nine to five grind; the feeling that their lives had become “just doing time.” They spend their days on the beaches keeping them clean while scratching out a subsistence living. These are happy people free of social and societal limitations and restrictions. They’re quick to throw a shaka, share a meal, talk story or offer kind words that deepen the meaning of Aloha with every word and actions.
Kanakas, tourists, travelers, shore casters and farmers. The tourists who get it, travelers who’ve felt no choice but to come back to Maui No Ka Oi, shore casters who’ve fed us for millenia; whose meditative and essential work inspires a closeness to the ocean and reminds us to relax, take the time to do it right, and smile knowing your home is one of the very best. Farmers new and old will now work toward healing Maui of the cancer of sugar cane, replant with things we need, and take the long view toward the Seventh Generation.
All and all this can be seen as a divine collaboration, the composition of a new symphony, a song that will be easily sung without effort as we tread lightly into the future.
A Hui Ho!
