Cheers to tears for open hearts

February 28

I spent a few nights in Hana, Hawaii with a beautiful new friend I will forever cherish!
The road to Hana is quite famous.  You couldn't possibly go to Maui and not hear about the windy narrow roads on steep cliffs of lush rainforest.  Well, I love nature, but nothing could beat what I felt from human nature here.
My friend and I were walking around looking for... nothing at all really, and we came across this beautiful Hawaiian home by the ocean.  My friend approached her,  and we chatted with her for a while.  She told us a lot about her life, losing her husband and her house.  But the community came together and paid for her house.  Her family lives near her so she's not alone and she continues to believe in the beauty of mankind.  In the middle of our conversation, she offered her phone number and asked if I would look after her place while she went away on vacation.  My jaw dropped.  I already had plans, but I was so awe-struck by the openess and trust this woman had for strangers that she could see goodness in from a short interaction.  She just... knew we were okay, and opened us into her house with an open heart.
As my friend and I walked away I started crying.  "Wow, that was so kind of her. So trusting... so..." and we proceeded to converse about childishness and childlike qualities.  Childishness is seen as negative - someone who needs to "grow up", but some childlike qualities, like innocence includes the ability to be open and silly without worry of others.  We agreed that we could feel these qualities come out in ourselves from childlike qualities like openness and trust.  I felt this of the woman that offered so much knowing so little of us, but I consistently felt this of the land.
Hawaii is not a great landmass, but it is so desirable because it gives so much promise, fertility, growth and healing.  But what people don't realize is that Hawaii is young and very fragile.  The island is far from sustaining itself and people are damaging it very rapidly by taking it's resources without much thought about a sustainable future.

I'm not sure I have the best way of giving these words today, but Hana is considered the heart of Hawaii because it is primarily populated by Hawaiians and they work hard to keep it small and community-oriented. People here work together to build houses, to get together, and yes, to relax.
I can't say I have much insight, however, as I only saw a glimpse of what there is to see in a short period of time.  In fact, I felt very much like a tourist in Hana, except when I met a man who suggested volunteering with some great people near Hana.

Well, I never volunteered with them, though I tried to find them! Instead I found another farm that suited my time constraints a bit better.