Kauai Thoughts
I recently visited Kauai, the smallest of the Hawaiian Islands, a palpable metaphor for living with and by the ocean that surrounds and influences every aspect of living.
Kauai has almost every natural phenomenon in miniature: north coast rain forest, south coast plain, encircling beaches, and central mountains of nearly 5000 feet, deep canyons and ravines, rock and red dirt to the inland side, and mist filled green cliffs confronting open ocean.
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Joe Doyle says:
This was a fantastic read. I was in Hawaii a few years ago in March, and stayed on Lanai. We took a boat over to Maui for the afternoon, and the entire voyage had us close to breaching whales. It was truly an incredible day, as I couldn’t get over how big and majestic these animals were (are), and I am lucky to have seen them.
Ellen Massey Leonard says:
I also really enjoyed this post, both your point about the health of the oceans, and about increasing dependence on technology. “Using screens to protect them from reality”– a beautiful phrase, and right on. I remember a six-year-old kid my husband was teaching to ski a while ago: he was balancing on a fallen log, trying to walk its length, when he said, “It’s like a video-game!” The poor child had it completely inverted. Fortunately, I didn’t see much of this among either children or adults while sailing around the world, except for two or three people who spent more time updating their blogs than actually experiencing the people and places they visited. But they were only a few out of scores of sailors! As you say, I think people crave a connection to the natural world.
Kip Otteson says:
Thanks for the excellent essay. I appreciated the concern with connection to the larger world. As a teacher I am constantly observing the disconnect of my students. Technology has created an easy, instant escape from the natural world. I am always looking for a way to connect kids to the “real world” in an urban setting. Living in Thailand we have an amazing natural world at our doorstep, but in the developing world it seems like the more wealth you accumulate the less connected to the natural world you are. I don’t know where I’m going with this but I really enjoyed this post and I will share it with my students.