Author Archives: Bianca Moragne

The Pecking Order

Thursday, July 22nd, 2010

Opinion by Catherine Aki

In my first commentary on Molokai social structures, I described how local businesses choose to remain non-political in order to maintain healthy relationships with all customers. This week, I will try to explain pecking order.

The pecking order on Molokai is difficult for newcomers to understand. I am going to try to explain it in such a way that newbies can comfortably find their place within our community. However, remember, I did not make the rules; I am just trying to explain our community based on my observations. Locals, you folks know these things so this is for those who don’t.

The Metaphor
People rooted in Molokai from the beginning of Hawaiian time are an “endemic species”. They can only be found on Molokai. East End families are the biggest grouping of endemic Hawaiians. Land there has belonged to some families for many generations and is not considered a commodity. Land is instead a place where the bones of ancestors rest. This connectedness cannot be bought or sold. Endemic Hawaiians are very involved in day-to-day living and interacting with family. These values have and will continue for generations into the future.
 
“Indigenous” Molokai Hawaiians are found predominately in Ho`olehua and other homestead areas. Most, but not all, have been here for a few generations and originally come from other islands. They have family here and elsewhere and are therefore indigenous. They, too, focus on day-to-day living and close bonds with family and friends.
 
The next group, of which I am a part of, is “Polynesian-introduced.” I was brought to Molokai by a Hawaiian and remain connected through children and grandchildren. This group may not be fully integrated into the Hawaiian communities but we observe and celebrate the culture with family.
 
The next group could be called a “non-native species.” Non-natives include generations of Chinese, Japanese and Filipino who came when plantations started on other islands and later on Molokai. They have extensive networks and organizations within their own groups.
 
The aggressive nature of Westerners suggests that many people from the mainland fall into the category of “invasive species.” Sometimes we westerners don’t see ourselves the way others do. We see ourselves as entitled to our opinion without realizing we are entitled to keep them to ourselves as well. We often have no family here, only newly formed friendships. We mention the number of years we have lived here to establish seniority within our group.
 
So what does this metaphor mean in terms of Molokai? It means that if you have lived here for less than five years, most likely you lack the depth of relationships of people who have been here since the seventh century, or at least for several generations.

What Molokai’s pro-developer group does not seem to understand is that relationships are a key component to Molokai’s culture; relationship to families, the land, the ancestors, cousins, classmates and friends. Those relationships are the foundation which is creating the future. You suppose to know your place in order to be in the future of Molokai.

Bhutan, a Spiritual Oasis

Friday, July 16th, 2010

Community Contributed

By Victoria Kapuni

The Kingdom of Bhutan is a place of overwhelming, breathtaking natural beauty and cultural pageantry. I had the honor of traveling there for the second time this year. Located in the Himalaya Mountains between India and China, Bhutan is 90 percent Buddhist. One cannot help but feel spiritual in this country. Rivers run turquoise over rocks of white from the largest and tallest mountains in the world. The air is crisp and clean; everything is seen and heard clearly among the towering pine trees and flying prayer flags. The King measures his success at ruling not on the Gross National Product like us but the Gross National Happiness of his people.

My first trip to Bhutan last October was by chance when a friend asked me to join her on a trip to Bhutan to see the monks dance or the Drametse Ngachham (Dance of the Drummers of Drametse). It is said that anyone who has seen these dances will have eternal peace and prosperity when they die. The dances tell the story of Buddist spiritual beliefs. During this first trip I received an invitation to enter the King’s private temple of the Future Buddha, not normally open to tourists. Upon my return home, I started making plans to return for a spiritual journey.

I re-visited Tiger’s Nest, which is a temple built on the side of a cliff 800 meters above Paro Valley. It is said a monk was carried up the mountain to this spot by two tigers where he meditated without food and water for three months.

I returned to the King’s temple again, where the monk who invited me before was waiting for me and once again invited me inside the temple of the Future Buddha. When I left, the monk climbed a ladder and pulled down a 10 foot scarf draped over one of the future Buddha’s fingers. He placed it around my neck. He explained it was gray from the incense burned over a five year period where it stayed in the Future Buddha’s hand. I was so honored I cried.

In Trongsa when we pulled up to the motel, monks were chanting and playing their horns and drums. I asked if I could just sit and have a cup of tea and listen to them outside the closed door. I did, then the door opened and a monk beckoned me inside. I prayed with them for two hours. Once again I was honored. Not only was I not Bhuddist, not Bhutanese, and not a man, but a white woman alone joining Thongsa Monestary monks practicing their ceremonies.

During the trip, I also saw the Dalai Lama. My hanai Bhutanese son, Kinley, found some Tibetan friends who arranged for us to see H H Dalai Lama for a teaching to be given to monks.

In Bumthang, at the top of a very steep mountain, I was taken as a student by H. E. Pad-tul Rimpoche. He is one of the five most spiritual people in the country. He told me that he was the reincarnated monk of Tiger’s Nest. I was taken back because this was a place of monumental importance to me on the first trip. I was questioned for about ten minutes and then told he had accepted me as his student. I was completely surprised. He gifted me with a Buddhist rosary and taught me its prayers. It was suggested that instead of praying for just my family, friends and island of Molokai, I should pray for the whole world and all living beings.