UA MAU KEEA OKA AINA: The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness. (Eco travel: Hawaii)

I have always wanted to go to Hawaii.  When I was a child growing up in rural Vermont, my father visited and brought back my first pair of earings. They were a soft orange and pink stone, unlike anything I had ever seen.  So my associations of Hawaii were of soft, gentle, exotic, Elvis, and…well surfers of course. But that was it.

I came with the desire to explore Hawaii’s place in the sustainability movement, find out why everyone started every email with Aloha and ended it with Mahalo, and make a study of what it meant to explore and travel with an eco conscious. To be introduced to the idea that the connections to the land was woven into the way of life for Hawaiians not only as a spiritual practice but also governing practice, was quite the intro into this enquiry.

Our first stop was Oahau. Needless to say, Honolulu was not the Hawaii I was expecting. It was a bustling busy bona fide city. But before my bubble could be burst, I was experiencing the spirit of Aloha as my seatmate offered to help me find my way to my hotel.

The hotel provided a tour of the grounds, and the guide introduced me to the sacred coconut grove where the royalty used to hold court, but also to the state seal which was carved onto every door of every room.  It read, UA MAU KEEA OKA AINA, “The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.” As I stepped into my room, I realized I was stepping over a threshold, that I was being introduced to a new world that I hadn’t dared to fully imagine.

I pondered the term, and had to ask for clarity. Did it really mean what I thought?
The life
Of the land
Is perpetuated in righteousness.

To live righteously: words that come to mind include courage, stamina, strength, and bravery. So if I am to understand, in order for the life of the land to continue: we must perpetually live righteously. Now this is a new paradigm.

The next day I would speak to Kelvin Ho about the topic, as well as Stella Burgess, the director of Hawaiian culture and community relations as my hotel (how cool is that??) and would learn that looking at a life of enquiry: do you live in balance? What will serve? Do you hold yourself in balance understanding what you are connected with? Do you do your part as humans as stewards for the land. Check out Kelvin and Stella speaking for themselves.

I couldn’t have put words to it before I arrived, but yes, this is why I came, because Hawaii is a place where the people live so closely and intimately with the physical elements, that their relationship with the land is written into their state motto.  I was beside myself to understand how that translated to the way they looked at how they cared for their physical environment and addressed sustainability issues.

As I opened the windows to feel the warm humid air, I also took in the lush and exotic scent of flowers, plants, and trees I had never seen in person before, and I couldn’t help but wonder if the land was prepared to grow over the buildings at any moment if the gardeners allowed it. That I didn’t know, but I did know one thing for sure, “Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore.”

I might just be in heaven. Suddenly the continent  (how Hawaiians refer to the states) felt very, very far away.