Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 32, Number 5, 1 Mei 2015 — Appreciating the beauty of silence [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Appreciating the beauty of silence

'm sure most of us have favorite places to whieh we retreat when we need peaee and quiet and time alone to reflect on all that is swirling around in our lives. Special places we go to refresh

and reboot our lives. When I was a kid it was in the 'awapuhi patch alongside the stream that separated our home from Māmalahoa Highway. I would lie on my back, look at the sky and watch the clouds roll by. When I was in my senior year at Kamehameha, it was on the Senior Bench on Saturday mornings when most folks had left r.flmnns to a mnvie.

downtown or boarders from O'ahu had gone home to be with their families for the weekend. It was fun to sit on the heneh and read a book or watch a small group of cadets marching off demerits, M 1 rifles slung over their shoulders around the basketball court. I used to think what a waste of time that is. Shouldn't they be scrubbing floors, pulling weeds or washing windows instead? When I was at UH-Mānoa, it was in a remote corner of Hamihon Library. When I worked for Family Court, it depended on where I was on a particular day. If it was North Kohala, it was the little rest stop Kahuā Ranch has makai of the mountain road to Hawi and Waimea side of the entrance to ranch headquarters. I would sit on the pienie heneh for a half-hour just looking down slope at the vast Pacific Oeean, thinking about a pre-sentence report I was working on for one of our judges or follow-ups on select cases. When I worked for Kamehameha Schools as Land Director for Hawai'i Island, there were several places I enjoyed going to find stillness: Waipi'o

Valley, Hainoa Crater, Mauna Kea State Park and the fire pit at Halema'uma'u. Fast forward to now for my book writing projects when I'm working on final edits: I drive 12

miles from my Waimea home to Spencer Park in Kawaihae and park myself on a pienie heneh in the southwest corner of the big pavilion. The quiet is deafening. I take breaks to listen to the waves lapping up against the rocky shoreline or to watch yellow tang or manini swimming around in a pool helow. The following are quotes froman article "We NeeH More Si1enee in Onr

Lives," written by Louis Spivak in Relevant Magazine\ "In modern culture, it almost seems like silence is extinct. We have given noise our consent to fill every moment of life. Alarms begin the day and soft ballads sounding from speakers eall it to a close. "Even in those 'silent prayers' at church, an acoustic instrument strums in the background to keep us safe from the perfect still. And it's not just sonic noise, but even the mental noise that comes from constant entertainment. Through our smartphones, tablets and our laptops, we always have access to a virtual world that demands our attention. We have created sources of sound and distraction for every situation. As a result, silence has heeome a fantasy, a neverland we choose to not visit. . . . To be socially accepted, we must be culturally eonnected. To be culturally connected, we have to listen to the roar." The good news is we don't "have to listen to the roar." The ultimate ehoiee is ours and ours alone. I hope in your busy world that you do take some time to be still; that you do take time to "smell the roses." ■

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Rūbert K. Lindsey, Jr. Chair, TrustEE, Hawai'i