 |
| Jackson Browne |
Hawaii took a lot longer than expected. I left on Dec. 19th and just got home tonight, Jan. 4th. I’m jet lagged and exhausted, so this won’t be long. I just wanted to check in and put down a few thoughts.
Advent is long past. Today is the 11th day of Christmas, somehow. I celebrated Christmas Day with the hostel I stayed at and it was good and we sang folk songs and I played the banjo, the uke, and the 6 string while I drank and smoked. Christmas with strangers. I recommend it. That was in the evening. On Christmas morning I took a boat ride along the coast of The Big Island, went swimming with dolphins and whale watching. Seeing that island from out there in the blue ocean, the mountain paradise shooting into the misty clouds above, the topical volcano looking down on me, it was a spiritual experience. The world felt so big, so impossible to understand, and I felt completely at peace with it. And yes, my long, sun-bleached hair, was blowing wildly in the wind, like Zaphod Beeblebrox speeding across the seas of Damogran.
Afterwards, I posted this on Facebook
Just took a boat around the island and swam with dolphins and the whole thing was spiritual and nothing is as it seems and the world is too big to understand. Advent is over. Merry Christmas.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from the island. I'm still not sure how I wound up there. On the flight to Kona I wrote in my journal, “I don’t know when I’m coming home. I won’t know until I get there.” On the 26th of December, I went swimming and the waves threw me into some rocks, rocks which a little sea urchin called home, and he tore up my right hand and forearm with his spikes; the waves also blasted my prescription sunglasses off my face (they are forever lost at sea). The whole thing was my fault. I swam towards the closest shore instead of the shore I was more familiar with, the one I’d used to enter the water in the first place. I took it as a lesson to go home sooner rather than later (or never). I tell my chess students, “Don’t play hope chess. Don’t just move a piece and hope for the best. Know what you’re doing. Think about each move.” This advice has a broad application.
Let me take a second to plug My Hawaii Hostel. It’s wonderful. Clean, friendly, hospitable, and inexpensive. $45 per night for a bed, a shower, and access to the kitchen, which usually has community food available. I didn’t spend a dime on food until my fourth or fifth day on the island. I met people from all over: Germany, Austria, Australia, Canada, Alaska, Switzerland, France, and more (while I’m discussing world regions and such, I’d like to apologize for saying that Hawaii is in the South Pacific. It’s not. It’s in the North Pacific). If you ever decide to visit Kona, Hawaii, look up My Hawaii Hostel.
I went to a luau with a bunch of Europeans and we just about got kicked out during the show. The security guard told us he’d been getting complaints. Too much drinking, too much laughter. The Austrian was a little pissed. “Is this how Americans do holiday!? They just sit and watch shows and eat and never talk to anyone!?” “Yeah, a lot of them,” I said. He asked me if I was comfortable with the luau, which he compared to a Disney World production. “No, I’m not. I’m not even sure why Hawaii should be a state. I guess that’s imperialism. They get tourist dollars, we get shows, and we all lose a piece of ourselves.” The whole luau was a nightmare of colonialism and Americanism, like a Hawaiian version of the Lawrence Welk Show. God save us all.
One last thing. I was stuck in San Francisco for a couple nights before I made it to Hawaii. I was traveling with my friends Kevin and Sarah. We walked around the touristy places by the bay and for about an hour we split up. They went to a winery and I went to the street where Nicholas Cage chased Sean Connery. A Buddhist monk approached me and gave me a bracelet and a nod. “Peace.” That’s all he said. That’s what I’d like to leave you with tonight. Peace. Have peace with where you are. Hawaii’s okay. But warm weather and waves alone have nothing to offer humanity. Flowers aren’t better than bare trees and sandy beaches aren’t better than frozen grass. During my last few days in Hawaii and on the flights home I experienced an overwhelming sense of gratitude for where I come from. Stepping off the plane in Indianapolis, I’d never been so happy to feel cold. I suppose It’s easy to sit here and tell you this. Maybe you need a trip all your own to learn it. I did. So take one, if you can. Maybe you’ll find what you’re looking for. I’m not saying you won’t. Just don’t drive yourself crazy thinking the answers are out there.
Seems like I've always been
Looking for some other place
To get it together
Where with a few of my friends
I could give up the race
And maybe find something better
But all my fine dreams
Well thought out schemes
To gain the motherland
Have all eventually come down
To waiting for Everyman
Just took a boat around the island and swam with dolphins and the whole thing was spiritual and nothing is as it seems and the world is too big to understand. Advent is over. Merry Christmas.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from the island. I'm still not sure how I wound up there. On the flight to Kona I wrote in my journal, “I don’t know when I’m coming home. I won’t know until I get there.” On the 26th of December, I went swimming and the waves threw me into some rocks, rocks which a little sea urchin called home, and he tore up my right hand and forearm with his spikes; the waves also blasted my prescription sunglasses off my face (they are forever lost at sea). The whole thing was my fault. I swam towards the closest shore instead of the shore I was more familiar with, the one I’d used to enter the water in the first place. I took it as a lesson to go home sooner rather than later (or never). I tell my chess students, “Don’t play hope chess. Don’t just move a piece and hope for the best. Know what you’re doing. Think about each move.” This advice has a broad application.
Let me take a second to plug My Hawaii Hostel. It’s wonderful. Clean, friendly, hospitable, and inexpensive. $45 per night for a bed, a shower, and access to the kitchen, which usually has community food available. I didn’t spend a dime on food until my fourth or fifth day on the island. I met people from all over: Germany, Austria, Australia, Canada, Alaska, Switzerland, France, and more (while I’m discussing world regions and such, I’d like to apologize for saying that Hawaii is in the South Pacific. It’s not. It’s in the North Pacific). If you ever decide to visit Kona, Hawaii, look up My Hawaii Hostel.
I went to a luau with a bunch of Europeans and we just about got kicked out during the show. The security guard told us he’d been getting complaints. Too much drinking, too much laughter. The Austrian was a little pissed. “Is this how Americans do holiday!? They just sit and watch shows and eat and never talk to anyone!?” “Yeah, a lot of them,” I said. He asked me if I was comfortable with the luau, which he compared to a Disney World production. “No, I’m not. I’m not even sure why Hawaii should be a state. I guess that’s imperialism. They get tourist dollars, we get shows, and we all lose a piece of ourselves.” The whole luau was a nightmare of colonialism and Americanism, like a Hawaiian version of the Lawrence Welk Show. God save us all.
One last thing. I was stuck in San Francisco for a couple nights before I made it to Hawaii. I was traveling with my friends Kevin and Sarah. We walked around the touristy places by the bay and for about an hour we split up. They went to a winery and I went to the street where Nicholas Cage chased Sean Connery. A Buddhist monk approached me and gave me a bracelet and a nod. “Peace.” That’s all he said. That’s what I’d like to leave you with tonight. Peace. Have peace with where you are. Hawaii’s okay. But warm weather and waves alone have nothing to offer humanity. Flowers aren’t better than bare trees and sandy beaches aren’t better than frozen grass. During my last few days in Hawaii and on the flights home I experienced an overwhelming sense of gratitude for where I come from. Stepping off the plane in Indianapolis, I’d never been so happy to feel cold. I suppose It’s easy to sit here and tell you this. Maybe you need a trip all your own to learn it. I did. So take one, if you can. Maybe you’ll find what you’re looking for. I’m not saying you won’t. Just don’t drive yourself crazy thinking the answers are out there.
Seems like I've always been
Looking for some other place
To get it together
Where with a few of my friends
I could give up the race
And maybe find something better
But all my fine dreams
Well thought out schemes
To gain the motherland
Have all eventually come down
To waiting for Everyman
No comments:
Post a Comment