Apologies for delays in my blog update. I've been traveling quite a bit the last few months, thus the lag time, so sorry. I see that I am being followed so I will make every effort to be more timely in my comments.
Upon my return to Maui, HI where I have resided for 6 years, I realized how much I missed being there. I left to come back to the Midwest after being away for 35 years due to lack of work in Hawaii and missing my dear friends too much. Yet, being away for 6 months and going back again stirred something in me that I didn't expect, the realization that I was now part of the Hawaiian culture. It is truly a blessing to live in a place where the air is breathable, the water is clear and the people smile and look you in the eye when they speak. The real honor of living in Hawaii is being adopted, it is something that doesn't happen to many people and if it does, it is not something to be taken lightly. That honor was bestowed on me after my first year and a half of living there.
I didn't miss Maui when I first left. I stood firm that I was finally done with the island and accepted in my head that I was coming back to the Mainland to live. Well, my head may have accepted the decision but the rest of me obviously didn't. The day after I arrived I was driving into town, all around me, from the beautiful blue Pacific to the mountains in the distance, I felt like I inhaled the earth, the trees and the ocean inside my soul. One can not put a price on that which is ethereal and real all at the same time. It's said you don't miss something until it's gone and I had no idea how much I really missed Maui until I came back. This time when I left, I couldn't stop the tears from flowing, knowing that no matter what it takes, I will have to return to my island in paradise again.
Traveling on the train from California back to Chicago gave me insight into how much of our beautiful America has been raped. From California all the way to Illinois, the land has become dry and barren, grass doesn't look really green, trees have been descimated and lay in dying clumps alongside the train tracks. Streams and small rivers that once ran full and heavy are now almost dried up, leaving only deep rifts where clean water once was. The streams that do still have water coursing through look brown and dirty. The saddest part of it all is that it appears that humans have abandoned guardianship of Mother Earth and all she has to offer.
Along the train tracks in ditches I saw appliances which have been thrown out and piled on top of each other, rusted cars and mechanical parts thrown aside and buried partly in the earth, chemical breakdown of these unused and wasted items leeching into the ground day after day; we turn our heads and close our eyes to disaster right in front of us.
WE HAVE AN OBLIGATION TO CARE FOR OUR PLANET ...... WHY DON'T WE?
