Ka Lena Maka
summer 2006
Pūanuanu ka hale noho ‘ole ‘ia e ke kanaka
Cold is an uninhabited house.
I have just returned from Molokai. I attended two R.W. Meyer, Ltd. meetings and had a good
time with family. I was fortunate enough to stay in the house of my uncle where I have always stayed
while sojourning on Molokai. My brother Tim was also there vacationing from Nevada. My son also
accompanied me there. It was the first time I had stayed in the house since the passing of my mother and
I wasn’t sure how I would feel. My son asked me if there would be ghost; I said I hope so.
A house is built of wood and stone, but the life of the house comes from the memories of the
people who lived there before. Those memories are kept alive by the people who inhabit the house. Who
eat and sleep there. Who laugh and sing there.
I was also fortunate to be able to hike the mauka lands. I took my son with me and we hiked to
Puanea to Keālia to Ka‘ohu and back down to the main gate. We hiked the land for four hours. We saw
the wildlife: pheasants, quails, deer, egrets, fish. The lehua was blossoming. The maile scent was on the
breeze. As we neared the end of our hike my son, who is six, started to explain to me how his grandfather
and great-grandfather and great-great grandfather all walked where we were walking. He then declared
he would blaze his own trail and went off the road and walked over the hills of grass to meet me at a bend
in the road. He decided, “It’s hard to make your own trail.” After a short rest, he raced Tim to the main
gate and as I watched him run with the red dust gathering about him I decided how lucky I was to see my
son on the road I have walked many times breathing that dusty red dirt in the late afternoon sun.
My main project of last week was setting the marker for my grandma’s grave. With the help of
family, my brother and I were able to accomplish this. It took us about 12 hours of labor, but it was
definitely worth it when it was all finished: Proud to fulfill our responsibility to our grandmother.
Like the MasterCard commercial, some would consider these memories priceless; but for me
there is a price. It is hard work. It is respecting what was given us and it is ignoring those little voices
that don’t understand the word, legacy. Some would say I am romanticizing the legacy, but those some
haven’t worked to keep the oldest house on Molokai standing or cleared noxious growth or mowed lawns
in the sun that gives credence to the saying that Kala‘e cooks the rain. I am a minor shareholder in this
corporation and when dividends are given out it is a one figure check for me, but that’s okay because I
understand it is not the money that gives life to this corporation, but the family who is bound to it by
history, ancestry, responsibility and blood. Some may say that that’s not enough and that I’m a fool, but I
know there are other fools like me who understand the importance of what R.W. and Kalama Meyer gave
us.
I recall at my mother’s wake, my uncle Tommy telling me to keep coming back to Molokai.
Even if my mom were no longer there, I have to keep coming back. It’s hard work he said, but never
forget Molokai. Any song about Molokai will tell you, return, return, return…As a family, let’s work
together so that we can make this land live for those who came before us and those to come after us.
See you August 19th.
Ho‘i hou i ka iwi kuamo‘o.
Return to the backbone
No ka noho ‘āina ka ‘āina
The land belongs to the one dwelling on it.