From Hawaii with Love
Bruno Mars & The Moonshine Jungle Tour
Born and raised in Hawaii. Born and raised in Hawaii. Born and raised in Hawaii. Born and raised in Hawaii.
That simple sentence repeated with four figures in mind.
The first obvious person that comes to my mind and that of many (unless you don’t believe that this gentleman was born here as his birth certificate states): US President Barack Obama.
President Obama is a little hard for me to relate to. I did work in the political arena for three years and have weened myself off the political junkie diet since but he is hard for me to relate to because we grew up in different times and places in the islands.
He also went to Punahou, which for those of us from here that didn’t go there, has a love/hate relationship with every other alma mater.
The second person that is obvious that comes to mind for me: BJ Penn. I grew up in Hilo, was a classmate of his younger brother, and on one occasion, got bit by their dog. It’s a story I’m not very fond of and needless to say, I hope it’s not my defining memory by the Penn family.
For those of us here in Hawaii, BJ, like many of our sports heroes, (queue up person number four aka Shane Victorino), stepped out and was a world beater. All of Hawaii united around him in ways that the President has not quite found popularity, and in the end, BJ’s art and profession, though bloody, yet violent, has inspired many to improve their health.
Having trained in Muay Thai and Jiu Jitsu for around 3 years each, I’ve a great appreciation for Mixed Martial Artists and in particular, for BJ’s achievements. I am praying, just like the rest of our islands, that he beats the eff out of Frankie Edgar in their upcoming battle so that his Soul can rest from the fight game, but that is out of our hands and remains to be seen.
As I touched on briefly, Shane Victorino also comes to mind. A sports wunderkind, he has done in baseball what kids around the world who play the sport dream of, he has gone professional, he is damn good, and he has done his fair share to bring home the big games.
Shane is far less relatable for me as my fandom of baseball was late born. We ran track against him and his team in high school and well, people don’t often make the best impressions as teenagers do we…
Which leads to the fourth mention of ‘Born and raised in Hawaii.’
I teased it in the title and here we have Bruno Mars. Now here’s a kid who has been an entertainer since he was a child. Similar to Michael Jackson, who helped inspire him, he is a part of a family of entertainers. BUT, like the previous men I’ve touched upon, he is from Hawaii.
People wonder why Obama is so calm, BJ never seems spiritually beaten, and Shane Victorino always seems to be smiling. Just like Bruno, all came up here and to be frank, it’s a little different in Hawaii.
We’re in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, yet our people are the most plugged in/connected (percentage wise) and our expats are spread across the US and around the world. For a population just shy of 1.5 million, we get around!
It’s in the spiritual DNA of this place, the first to cultivate communities here having traveled thousands upon thousands of miles to settle for a time, and many more moving forth.
The Divine Quest, the Spiritual Journey, the Warrior’s Path, the Myth of the Hero, all of these play out in every Human + Being’s sojourn along Life’s Road.
I took in the Moonshine Jungle Tour this past week on the final night of three shows. Truthfully, I’ve been to three concerts in my whole Life, No Doubt in 2001, Morrissey in 2011, and The Moonshine Jungle Tour in 2014.
It was electric.
LOL, that was an understatement. I cannot put into words nor do the pictures of the event do it any justice to the experience. When I saw the Dalai Lama speak in 2012, I thought to myself, hey, maybe I could one day share a message of spiritual knowledge to a wide audience. I reflected that perhaps he was just an extreme mirror of my own Journey to seek, to find, to share, to travel, to help as many as I could.
With the way Bruno Mars did it, made it, and is still at the start of his rise, I didn’t really think that could be me. My Love is a Singer and for her, it sparked her dream of Singing and being a Performer further, for me, I was just happy for the guy. Where I felt like I ‘wanted’ with the Dalai Lama, here I enjoyed, I was in awe. I felt like I could relate, more than the others mentioned, because he was doing what he Loves, and it vibes because of that.
Born and raised in Hawaii.
I was born and raised here in Hawaii. I have left only to travel, but never to settle. Ten years ago, I was told that“the Spirit of the Hawaiian Islands has a higher calling” for me. For ten years, I have been inspired and haunted by those words.
In this society that I am a part of, to make it means to make it. Recognition is important. Success is associated with money, power, prestige. Where I enjoyed Bruno because I wasn’t expecting my Life to unfold like that, I wanted with the Dalai Lama because of my own desires to do something of worth with my time here. Ego quite silent in one, very present in the other. LOL, wouldn’t you think it reversed?
Where I stand today in my Life, I don’t seek the next. It’s no longer an expectation to have what I want to be on deck because that didn’t always make me happy. I’m open to the idea and for my Life to become what it will as it does, but I know myself enough today to realize it doesn’t do anything for me to predict or ‘manifest’ because Life is in flux. The ebb and Flow of this Journey is far more sophisticated that I…
What then does do things for me? Well, I love to write. I also love to create. More than anything, I love to express the moment as it speaks to me in as many ways possible.
Years ago I put the words into the Ether, I’d give up the Path I was on in order to share what lay within my Heart with the World. Watch what you wish for is so true…
In my first book, I have this section where I reflect on the writing and what was going on at the time, in my ‘work’ was as a Psychic/Spiritual Consultant. I met people from all over the world and in essence got to share what was in my Heart at the time with them.
As I write each day, I continue to express each new moment, every experience. If I paint, I enjoy it because of the freedom, if I’m crafting, well, that’s a whole other wealth of expressive opportunity.
Born and raised in Hawaii. I mentioned four men who “made” it. It is human to wonder if my name will ever be thought of in the same fashion.
Wonder as I might, is that even important? Is that a part of my experience here on this plane of existence? I’m 33, they tell me I’ve got time. I just want to be happy and make peace with the experiences of my Life as they take me through all the different Seasons. So far, working on relinquishing the desire to be anything but what I feel in the given moment, is helping, and I’m quite aware of the fact that changes. Change is often imminent and most of all, necessary.
I intend no disrespect Ladies for not emphasizing some of the wonderful women, also ‘Born and Raised in Hawaii’ who have touched the strings of the World’s Collective Heart. It is another story for another time, but I will share the message of one woman, Nana Veary, who was also ‘Born and Raised in Hawaii’ who said:
Change we must.
Thank you Mr. President. Pound that f***a out, BJ. Get to the Hall of Fame, Shane. And right on Bruno, I’m glad you are out there getting it done and smiling, while really exuding to the world that you are doing what you Love. We must change as a collective people to living from a place where we are out there in the world doing what we Love.
I think that’s why I related the most to Bruno aside from the other men mentioned. I didn’t love politics, my passion for Martial Arts rises and falls like the tide, and baseball has come late in my Life. But I’ve always loved to express, to create, and to Write. The more I’ve torn down the walls blocking me from writing my Truth as presently as possible, the more Love I find, experience, and get to share with others, whether it’s one person, or the world.
And that’s pretty cool.
Mahalo ke Akua.
