Page 2 - MidWeek Kauai - Sep 21, 2022

2 KAUA‘I MIDWEEK SEPTEMBER 21, 2022
How Aloha Entered My Life
Many waters cannot quench love. — Song of Solomon
MUnmasking The Truth
Heidi Ho hugged me when we first met, not noticing anything unusual. I, however, instantly felt we had mysteriously be- come one. If work had not taken me to the University of California at Irvine that se- mester, just before I enrolled at Harvard Divinity School, I would not have met Heidi.
romantic interest, she stopped answering my phone calls. Finally I pleaded into her an- swering machine, “I know you are there. Please answer.” She did. We became a couple, and from that moment everything was new.
Through falling snow, we walked into an old stone chapel as I told her that my parents had met at a party just across the common. Com- ing down the aisle I added that my grandfather had pro- posed to my grandmother on a nearby hill. We stopped at the altar, where I continued: “This is where they were married . . . and this was my grandmother’s ring. Will you marry me?” Although usually talkative, Heidi was momen- tarily speechless.
ore and more, we see faces masked less and less. What’s nice about Hawai‘i (usually) is that people can do their own thing at this
love” (Song of Solomon).
The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young is the dean of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, California. He has a doctoral degree in theology from Harvard University and is the author of The Spiritual Journal of Henry David Tho- reau and The Invisible Hand in the Wilderness: Econom- ics, Ecology and God.
Chasing The Light is pro- duced by Lynne Johnson and Robin Stephens Rohr.
point in the waning pandemic days (we hope) without being outwardly judged or admonished. Concerned for yourself, respectful of others? Wear a mask. Immuno- compromised? Wear a mask. Caring or often in contact with ones deemed most vulnerable? Wear a mask.
As we walked on Laguna Beach, she talked about Ha- wai‘i — ahupua‘a, the mon- archs and the Hawaiian Re- naissance. She taught me my first Hawaiian word: ka‘ehu- kai, or sea foam.
That summer on Maui, her brother assured me that al- though she seemed nonchalant, she had never before brought anyone home; she really cared for me.
Masking in Asia was an accepted practice long before the COVID virus made most other continents aware of its potential value. People wore masks in Asia more than 60 years ago and the reasons why have in- creased — to prevent the spread of germs, to avoid wearing makeup, to protect against air pollution and auto exhaust — even as a “social firewall” in China, ac- cording to a March 2020 Voice of America commentary.
We seemed to have no future as a couple; she was going to study Kiswahili in Nairobi, and I would be going to Har- vard. So when I expressed a
I wrote to her every day while she was in Africa. Pro-democracy demonstra- tions prevented her university from opening, and by Decem- ber, chaos had closed down the program. She flew into Boston to see me on her way home, and we went straight to dinner.
Today, 30 years since we married, I barely recognize the person I was before aloha en- tered my life. From the coasts of California to Hawai‘i, I have learned that, indeed, “Many waters cannot quench
So, what happens next? Will the upcoming flu season encourage more people to remain masked more often? After all, our isolation tendencies plus masking were key reasons that flu deaths in the U.S. fell from an average of 36,000 annually in 2010-19 to about 700 during the 2020-21 flu season.
with the Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young
Fill in the blank cells using numbers 1 to 9. Each number can appear only once in each row, column, and 3x3 block. Use logic and process of elimination to solve the puzzle. The difficulty level ranges from Bronze (easiest) to Silver to Gold (hardest). Answers are on page 7
RATING: BRONZE
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We’re just now experiencing what it’s like to social- ize regularly in person sans masks for the first time in two-plus years. We’re all doing that post-COVID social dance — do I hug or fist bump, shake hands or high- five, give a minor bow or a semi bro hug? It’s all so confusing. Heck, we socially distanced at 6 feet when, in retrospect, perhaps 12 feet would’ve served us better.
We went into restaurants masked and then pulled down our face guards for 90 minutes as we stuffed our faces and/or enjoyed well-deserved libations. Seems incongruent now, doesn’t it? We stuffed nine or more Zoom meetings into eight hours, a self-defeating busi- ness game that has been shown to be a stress-inducing, rather ineffective and an incomplete use of our time.
We “trusted” family members and really good friends to come visit, but distrusted the general public because we had no clue who “they” had been in contact with, or for how long. In 1988, comedian Dennis Miller joked that the toughest job in America was a bank teller in Alaska ... you know, everybody walks in with a mask on! It was funny back then. We may breathe easier; many have decided that they’re kinda done with this novel coronavirus, but is it done with us?
Think about it.
john@thinkaboutithawaii.com