Haole

So this discussion came up in my Thursday night class when we talk about culture and identity. My Professor had written an article about people in Hawaii and how they don't group people into races, but into local and non-local. I agree. We do this. I personally think it's better than race; instead of signaling someone as black, puerto rican and whatever else you can think of it's just two categories (either you're from the islands or you're not). I think that's fine, as long as you don't mean it as something derogatory or demeaning.

Any-who, my professor talked about the definition of "haole" and claimed it meant foreigner, but that most people think it means white or caucasian. This is also true. Over the years "haole" has had a negative connotation to it and I must admit, I've used it (mostly when joking) to describe people. Kaytee & Elizabeth are personal witnesses to me poking fun of "haole's" and "my people" vs. "your people". The reason I'm writing about all this is to shed some light on the word most (even native Hawaiians) believe to mean foreigner.

Haole does NOT mean foreigner.

The literal translation is this: HA means breath, or life. OLE is a shortened form of A'ole, which means "no". So the literal translation is: no life or no breath. Hawaiians used this word to describe foreigners since they arrived in the islands with no "ha" or life (they didn't ask permission from the Gods to eat, to kill, to use resources, etc.) In Hawaiian eyes, to do these things meant you did not have any "ha".
This is also evident in the one word everyone knows on the mainland, "ALOHA". Notice the "ha"? That's why our greetings for hello, goodbye, and love all have "ha" in it; we are sharing breath or life with you.

To not have "ha" means you are haole. So no matter what your race, Hawaiian, Filipino, Chinese, White...if you do not show that you have life, breath or love for your fellow man, for nature, for everything around you, then you're haole.

So, if anyone from the islands claims you're haole, you need to tell them this definition. Because in actuality, if they're trying to demean you, then they're haole; without life. Just thought I'd write that for all my "haole" peeps who I love to hang out with! You are definitely full of ha! :)

Oh, the voodoo that you do....

Okay, this story is just too crazy to make up. It really happened, none of its fake and I'm not that surprised that it happened to me.

On Thursday night I have my class about diversity and identity. Our homework was to bring two items that represent who we are. I automatically grabbed something that represented my Hawaiian culture because I closely identify with that, but it was hard to find a second thing. I saw one of those free book of mormons on my bookshelf and thought, "That makes sense. Being a member of the church is a strong part of my identity." I took it and put it in my bag.

All day at work I worried and fretted about sharing this book. There are some smart people in my THURSDAY class and not everyone is receptive when you tell them you belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. At the last minute I decided not to share the Book of Mormon. I admit it...I cowered. I was hesitant and anxious to share it.

Well, class started and I got the overwhelming feeling that I needed to get over myself and just share the gospel with my classmates. I took a deep breath and did it. I showed everyone the Book of Mormon, bore my testimony and ended. There wasn't a massive conversion all of a sudden, but there was acceptance. Everyone in the room was open to me and no one judged. (Not that I could see anyway) Then the girl after me takes out her voodoo doll. I'm NOT kidding. Apparently she got it when she was a kid after her mom went on a visit to New Orleans. She talked about how this doll (it's black with all these markings and crazy stuff on it) chases away her bad dreams. Well everyone is now enthralled by it! They all want to know about voodooism and they're asking her all these questions.

I felt defeated and hurt. Why would the Lord push me to share the gospel and then have voodoo girl follow after me? What did I do wrong? Did I wait too long? Did I question him too much? All these questions swam in my mind as I went outside during our break. I wanted to hide in the bathroom and not come out. I felt like a failure.

One of the students (he's from India) stopped me before I went into the bathroom and asked me if he could see the book I showed everyone. I asked him why and he said that he felt lost and hearing what I said made him feel like he wasn't so lost anymore. (I'm not ad libbing here, this is what he said) I ran back into class, got him the book and gave him a brief summary of what the Book of Mormon and the church is all about. He was so intrigued by it and I have no idea what will happen. He may want to take the discussions, he could decide its nice but nothing more. I don't know.

What I do know is that something great came out of this experience. I was tested, I succeeded in the end. The Lord knew I was feeling down about the voodoo and everything and he told that indian student to come talk to me. I love the feeling I got afterwards. I love that I did what I was supposed to. And I love that I'm able to share this experience with all of you. So if you feel scared or anxious sharing the gospel...don't! It'll be worth it, trust me. And If you don't trust me, trust the Lord...he ALWAYS follows through.

The 44th

So its official, Barack Obama is the 44th president of the United States of America. Living in Hawaii means the inaguration happens at 5:30am our time and I wasn't going to get up that early. But, I did get up in time to hear him be sworn in and hear his speech.

I've been back and forth on the Obama issue; Should I vote for him? Will he be good enough? Is he a God fearing man? All these questions swirled in my mind in November and I did my best to research all I could about both candidates. I wanted to make sure that no matter what decision I made, even though my vote is small compared to the rest of the U.S., that I made an educated decision with eyes wide open.

Will Obama be a good president? I don't know. Will Obama be able to do all the things he promised? I don't know. Will Obama prove all those who voted against him right or all of those who voted for him right? Who knows?!

What I do know is that I have the brightest hope for this country and its potential. I hope that we will be a better nation. I hope that people will change for the better and become the type of Americans I know we can be. We're a super power for crying out loud! We should know and act better than others since we have been blessed a hundred fold.

There are a lot of people in my immediate circle of family and friends who hate this man. The simple fact is, he's president and in the words of Abraham Lincoln "A nation divided amongst itself cannot survive". It is your right, and mine, to not agree with him, to fight the unjust bills that may come across his table, and to speak out when we feel our country is suffering from corrupt rule. But I beg for you to find hope and peace for your souls so that we do not divide amongst ourselves but become a stronger nation and a stronger people.

If you want to look at his full speech from this morning click on the link below.

http://news.aol.com/main/inauguration/article/text-of-obama-inaugural-address/312186

New Semester...New laughs

So it's a new semester for me which means new classes, new students, and new funny moments to share with all of you. My first class at UH was last night and it's called Environmental Education. The course is described as "forming curriculum for schools that focus on environmental awareness."

That is not what we did yesterday.

The class I sat in yesterday was a hippy's dream. The syllabus is only a paragraph long and explains how we'll be focusing on peace gardens, how to make one and how they can bring inner peace as well as peace to others. O-k-a-y.

Then it says we'll be going on field trips. I'm okay with that, I like field trips. But these trips are to the nature conservatory and some compost heap that only my third grade teacher would MAKE me go to. But I tell myself it's okay, at least I get out of the classroom.

And then the introductions happen and I realize...this is going to be a repeat of last semester. Everyone in the room is talking about how involved they are with the environment, the activist roles they've taken to stop pollution and the healthy food they eat. Here I am, a six foot carnivore who uses plastic and styrofoam plates, and the only awareness I have is to throw my garbage in the trash. Great.

So one of my classmates talks about how she lived in England for 11 years and how she worked at a school started by Satish Kumar (Apparently he walked around the world for peace, I had no idea until I googled him last night). Then she gets into a discussion about how plants are the true food that God has bestowed on us and at this point I can't resist. I raise my hand and talk about the Bible and how it talks about animals and how they were actually given to man (I remember talking about that in seminary)

My comments could be seen as uncaring and brash, but I had to defend myself! I was the only meat-loving, ozone depleting person in the room! Meat lovers of the world unite! was my motto. Everyone was mad at me...even the teacher. But who cares? I'm not afraid of them...much. I just hope they don't wrap me in lettuce and offer me to their tree God. That would suck.

Just some added thoughts

So I'm 9 days into my resolutions and I wanted to do a review just because I realized that my goals are more temporal than spiritual. The "temper resolution" is spiritual to a certain extent. And I must admit...I am a happier person. I didn't realize how quick my temper flares up for little things like being behind a schedule I had set for myself or someone driving at 10 miles per hour. don't get me wrong, I still get upset, but I recognize it and stop myself from saying, doing or thinking anything else that would continue the anger. Because I do that...I'm happier.

Rabici and I sat down yesterday and discussed so many things about this year. We are always so busy that it's a miracle for us to be together. During the winter break from my masters and from students we've caught up on a lot of "we" time. And during that "we" time we've settled on some spiritual goals as well. Mostly they have do with an increase in scripture study, individual prayers and so on. Which made me think about how as latter-day saint's and a children of God we know better, but sometimes we don't act better. And by we, I mean me in this instance. I'm speaking about myself for this post since I'm reviewing my own goals and resolutions.

I mainly want to express my gratitude for everyone in my life who has made me want to be a better person. For my friends out there who keep me smiling and laughing, you are the only reason I haven't died of a heart attack; you keep me young and as healthy as I cn be eating the way I do! For those I'm not too friendly with, you allow me to work on what I lack in patience, forgiveness, and just getting over myself.

I think is this is one of the most thoughtful, non-angry, posts I've ever had. Maybe it's because I'm doing what I'm supposed to and what my Primary, Young Women, Seminary and BYU-H professors have been teaching me to do for forever! Wow, took me long enough. :)

To the movie talkers...BEWARE

I don't know how many of you have heard this story about the Phildelphia guy who shot a dad being loud in a movie theater but if you haven't here's the scoop. 29-year old James Cialella Jr, who went to a screening of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, pulled out a gun and shot another man in the arm because he and his family were being noisy.

Cialella was annoyed when the family wouldn’t stop talking. He told them to be quiet, but the youngest son decided to be a smart butt and became even noisier. Cialella then threw popcorn at him in an attempt to get him to stop. But since that failed he decided that the next course of action would be to pull out his gun and shoot the father in the arm.

Now, I'm not condoning violence in the least. When you're mad, you don't pull out a gun and shoot people. But......I do know where this guy is coming from. I mean, you shell out 9 or 10 dollars to see this movie, you get some snacks and sit down and all you want to do is enjoy. But then some jerk and his son start talking and ruin the whole darn thing for you! You try to get them to stop, asking them nicely or shushing them but nothing works!

Should he have walked out of the movie and complained to someone else, YES. Should he have had words with the family when they left, MAYBE. I want to say the guy had it coming and that I don't blame Cialella, but I can't. Guns are awful and I must admit that I too have talked in a movie theater. (Not as loud or obnoxious as this Philedelphia family, but I have talked).

I guess my two main reasons for posting about this is because 1) I can't believe this actually happened and 2) If you're a movie talker, you better watch out. Because one time there may be another person like Cialella who will whip out their gun and not think twice about making you shut up.