Living Lokahi

Community Contributed

Opinion by Rick Baptiste

Uncle Google says that Lokahi is the creative and fruitful harmony that arises out of diversity.  Wow!  I have to admit that this definition excites me.   Why?  Because, as long as I have lived on Molokai there has been ooka pila diversity.   Then this is good news!  We qualify to be candidates of Lokahi.   We don’t have to be understood to work together for the good.  Uncle Google says that whatever we give predominant focus to, we become.  If we focus on the good, more will come.  When situations arise, the successful see them as opportunities instead of problems.  With every problem, you can go down the road of despair where you can’t think clearly and make reactionary, unwise choices.   The other option is, to work towards Lokahi, thinking more clearly, making better decisions, and creating a great community to live and thrive in.

Unity is the state of being one, being undivided itself and separate from every other thing.  Harmony is all the components doing what they do best that serves themselves and their community at large causing growth in all areas of life.  We all got different agendas but we are all in the same room so we may as well make the best of it.  Your agenda can be adjusted somewhat to get you what you want while making the conditions good for all others in the same room to be creative, to grow fruitful and to be in harmony.

A happy marriage can be the epitome of Lokahi.  Have you ever heard a husband say, “happy wife, happy life”?   Men, you are the key, so let me share a personal story that took place recently.   I noticed that my wife comes alive when she is outdoors taking pictures.  She is gifted in this area and I recognize she enjoys taking pictures but she also gets in a zone.   Being in her creative zone is very therapeutic for her, ergo ipso facto, a happy wife, happy life equals Lokahi.  What am I trying to say Molokai is, look for ways to lift one another up.  You will find your hard crusted limited agendas making course adjustments so that everyone else in the room can thrive too.  That to me is Lokahi.  Working through the chaos together to make something beautiful results in “too blessed to be stressed.”