Paradise Lost - and Found in Hawaii

I complain sometimes because of the state the world is in, but this weekend I found part of what living in paradise is all about.

We were lucky enough to be invited on a field trip around the island of Oahu with some of the most interesting people you'd ever want to meet. Three professors, each a recognized expert in their fields, and a native Hawaiian whose family has been traced back over 700 years on the island. We were privileged to have seen and heard, through their eyes and voices, the rich history, heritage, and legend that are uniquely Hawai`ian. Far from being a classroom experience, it was a very personal experience I will never forget.

What many of us who were born in the mainland United States never learn about Hawi`ian history is amazing. We of course learn that history about each of our own states that seems important, and some relationship to other states as a whole, but generally we learn very little about Hawai`i. The United States itself is only a little over two hundred years old… yet Hawaiians have lived on these islands possibly since 1 AD… long before the Western European white man ever set foot in North America.

Human beings have a bad habit of trying to destroy or minimize those things we don't understand… or can no longer see a use for. Sadly we have seen this throughout history. Entire civilizations, once thriving for thousands of years, are now forgotten… and live only in archeology and ancient ruins… now nothing but rubble. We have eyes, but we cannot see.

As I stood on a black sandy beach and listened to a beautiful prayer chant in native Hawaiian, I felt a sadness. Anywhere else in the United States this would have been a sacred place, revered and respected by our government and our people. Here… there was nothing but a bare beach with nothing to commemorate it's existence. Here there was nothing left of the thriving civilization of thousands of people who once lived here in their now lost paradise.

The respect, and passion our teachers held for their heritage was inspiring. As they led us from place to place along the islands beautiful coastline, we heard and saw for the first time places and sounds we had never heard, nor noticed before. Seemingly hidden and secret places we had passed by hundreds of times without truly seeing we now saw for the first time. Like small children we sat at their feet or stood by their sides as they pointed to this or that, our eyes wide with wonder. For us on that day… they helped us to truly find the paradise once again with new eyes.

Paradise does not live in the sand, the ocean, the wind in the palms, nor does it live in the hustle and bustle of money and buildings in the city. Paradise lives in the hearts of a proud and glorious people and their history.