Musings: Accentuate the Positive

It was hard to sleep with all the light from that gorgeous harvest moon, which I watched rise amid towering pink cumulus clouds at Fuji Beach last night, as behind me, Waialeale and the western sky were bathed in the ethereal golden light of the setting sun.

So Koko and I got up well before dawn today and followed the full moon mauka as it slipped lower and lower, finally disappearing altogether behind the flat top of Waialeale, serene and blue. Mist curled up from the pastures, and as the sun peeked over the horizon, rosy-tinted clouds came together to form a lei mid-way up the mountain.

I never need be reminded, “lucky you live Kauai.”

It’s certainly better than coastal Texas these days, where folks are realizing what we did back on Sept. 11, 1992: hurricanes can wreak one helluva lotta damage, especially when storm surge is involved. Yet if you go down to Poipu today, to the coastline that was nearly scoured clean by Iniki, you’ll see that all the houses and hotels that were there before have been rebuilt — plus more.

There’s only one description for that kind of behavior: dumb ass.

I was struck by several things in reading an AP article on how Ike survivors were clamoring for gas and food.

The first was how desperately poor so many people are. They don’t have the money to evacuate to a hotel, or even to buy the gas to get out. We seem to forget this whole segment of our society until their woes are exposed by something like a giant hurricane.

Wanda Hamor, 49, of Orange, had been fifth in line with her 21-year-old son William. They were trapped in their house by floodwaters until Monday morning before they could venture out.

They had run out of food Sunday night. They left for Gustav and say they couldn't afford to leave for Ike or buy any more than $60 in food.

"He's diabetic and he has to eat four times a day," she said of her son.

The second was how people complain about the assistance they do get.

”They give you a little cup of water every four hours. They feed us one peanut butter and jelly sandwich. We were in there for about 18 hours before we could go outside and get some air," he said.

It’s a good reminder for folks to be prepared here in Hawaii, where any number of manmade and natural events can disrupt our food and fuel supply. As Kauai’s Civil Defense Administrator, Mark Marshall, made clear when I interviewed him for a recent Kauai People story:

“My big message is don’t depend on government,” he said. “The more self-sufficient you can be, the happier you’re gonna be in the end result.”

Amen. And that holds true in general, not just disaster relief.

The third thing that struck me was a little blurb about how in one Texas cemetery, “cement vaults popped up out of the water-swollen ground, many disgorging their coffins.”

”I just don't know what to say," the 75-year-old [George] Levias said as he walked gingerly among open graves filled with water. "Loved ones being disturbed like that."

Once again we see how it bothers most mainland folks to see burials disturbed, but here in Hawaii, it’s just par for the course. Anyway, it seemed apropos to include that in today’s musing, since Judge Watanabe is scheduled to hand down her ruling this afternoon in the Naue burials case.

I’ll keep you posted. Meanwhile, as the economy teeters and a Christian fundamentalist makes a run for the White House, I’ll leave you with this from The Cosmic Path:

Thoughts and words carry energy. If you pour a lot of energy into something, you are underscoring its existence and importance. Above all, think and speak in terms of the world you want to be living in a few months down the line, rather than the possible one you fear will be imposed on you. Nurture that positive vision.