Ocean

Everyone Can Feel Joy Living in Hawaiʻi

As I walk along the water’s edge, I see people, sunshine and a glistening ocean.

 I see people from all over the world experiencing the exact same scene and enjoying it immensely. All types of shapes and bodies and colors of people are relaxing in the water or soaking up the sun, reading magazines, reading books, some in the shade and some in the bright light. It is as if God painted a rainbow of people for an artist’s delight. Small children, boogie boarding children, babies, newlyweds, selfie portrait takers, middle-aged and older. It just didn’t matter what you looked like, where you were from or how you got here. The enormous ability to feel the joy of this place called Hawaiʻi was everywhere.

Hope is Who We Are in Hawaiʻi

As I walked along the Hawaiian shore today, it occurred to me that the world is a bigger, brighter place like the ocean that surrounds us.

The crystal clear water gently soothes our tired feet. The sand is silky smooth beneath each step. As I looked up, I saw a man directing a kiteboarder, calling out “lift up” and “turn the other way”.  The directions were clear but I am not sure the newly ordained kiteboarder heard his voice. How much is life like this? We are directed and called to but we do not always hear an inner voice inside us. Perhaps God is our director? With hope, we will listen to heavenly words with all the goodness of our hearts.

An Ocean of Knowledge

The ocean was calm today. Waves gently rolled back to meet those coming forward.

How much are our lives like this? We often look backwards into our past for the strength to move forward again. The ocean changes minute to minute like our lives. We are forever adjusting. When the water gets murky, we just cannot get a clear view. When the waves crash upon us, we stay with our faith that God will see us through. When another wave hits, we hold onto our faith with the greater good of mankind and ourselves. We seek the peaceful ebb and flow and yet sometimes it is too hard to overcome the hurdles, jump the waves and land on our feet in the silky sand. We know that better days are ahead. Days when it is easier to float, swim, paddle and surf in the joy of the water that surrounds us.

Ocean Creatures in Our Plastic World

What came to me on this walk was far greater than I anticipated as I spotted pieces of plastic garbage.

Of course, I forgot (again) to bring a bag to pick up debris. But I picked it up anyway and walked along the water’s edge. As I looked ahead, I greeted someone new. The reason I stopped to say aloha to her is that she was carrying a bag of trash. How fortunate for me to come across her. She gladly took my plastic tub and placed it among her misplaced treasures. Later I found out her name is Joy (for good reason). We got to talking story and found out that we had a lot in common, especially the part about keeping our ocean and beaches clean.

As I continued to walk the beach, I found another piece of plastic close to the water’s edge. I picked it up and walked with it for a half a mile and then looked down at it in my hand more carefully. Attached were barnacles clinging to the inside on a man-made shelf of plastic. One feathery creature was popping out. What should I do about this? Now we are talking about saving ocean life, as ocean life is clinging to a piece of pretty turquoise plastic. Well, I picked up a stick and dipped the plastic in the water and dislodged these tiny bits of life. Sad that the ocean creatures are adapting to this evasive garbage, innocently attaching to whatever comes along as it drifts by.

 If everyone who walks the beach picks up one or two pieces of plastic and additionally remembers to bring a bag along to collect them, then think of how much cleaner our ocean would be! We have thousands of people on Oʻahu including all the visitors. A campaign to keep our oceans clean is a very good idea.

Written by Sandra Armstrong as it appeared in the “Currents” section of Midweek “Committed to Respecting, Saving Our Ocean” by Ron Mitzutani