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The quote is from educator Kala Hoe, as quoted in the article "We need you to succeed" in this week's Honolulu Weekly. Curt Sanburn's article describes a recent meeting on the island of Moloka'i, a two day SustAINAable Moloka'i: Future of a Hawaiian Island Conference (the letters AINA are capped because AINA means "land" or more specifically this land, this place, that is, this Hawaii).
This newly invigorated activism on Moloka'i comes about because the huge landowner and employer, the Moloka'i Ranch (foreign owned), shut down last year for various reasons which included not getting the go-ahead to do some development they desperately wanted to do. Now, the residents of Moloka'i have a chance to look at true sustainability, on a local level, tied in with the global.
In a speech at the conference, navigator Nainoa Thompson mentioned in this context (the late) astronaut and local boy Lacy Veach, who once looked out his space shuttle window to find the Hawaiian archipelago spread out far below, supreme in its isolation. The sight inspired him: "When we figure out how to live well on our islands," Veach postulated, "we will have the most important gift we can give to the earth, and that is hope."
The (short) article is well worth reading, and the ongoing situation on Moloka'i well worth keeping an eye on.
However, I want to go back to that quote at the top.
two words in English, responsibility and privilege, are one word in Hawaiian
That word is kuleana.
What does that mean to you, that "responsibility" and "privilege" can be in this language context one inextricable meaning and in others, maybe not?
This newly invigorated activism on Moloka'i comes about because the huge landowner and employer, the Moloka'i Ranch (foreign owned), shut down last year for various reasons which included not getting the go-ahead to do some development they desperately wanted to do. Now, the residents of Moloka'i have a chance to look at true sustainability, on a local level, tied in with the global.
In a speech at the conference, navigator Nainoa Thompson mentioned in this context (the late) astronaut and local boy Lacy Veach, who once looked out his space shuttle window to find the Hawaiian archipelago spread out far below, supreme in its isolation. The sight inspired him: "When we figure out how to live well on our islands," Veach postulated, "we will have the most important gift we can give to the earth, and that is hope."
The (short) article is well worth reading, and the ongoing situation on Moloka'i well worth keeping an eye on.
However, I want to go back to that quote at the top.
two words in English, responsibility and privilege, are one word in Hawaiian
That word is kuleana.
What does that mean to you, that "responsibility" and "privilege" can be in this language context one inextricable meaning and in others, maybe not?