Our world is broken. Not just cracked or breaking but broken. We see this in the increased shootings at places of worship. We see this when a man sworn to protect the public tases a child. We see this when someone shoots into a car, not knowing who is inside. We see this when a driver plows into a group of people because some of them are of a different nationality. We see this when a child dies in its crib inside a house because someone shoots at the house from outside.
This realization came while watching the Merrie Monarch celebration at the end of April. Watching the protocol, the respect paid to those representing the royal couple, hearing the chants, watching the hula performances honoring the land (aina), the ancestors, the gods and goddesses. And I realized that we have, as a people, walked away from our spiritual center. As our world is broken, we are broken. We have allowed people with no compassion, no heart, no soul, to rule us, to dictate to us, to lie to us, and we’ve stood back and done nothing.
Now, I’m not talking about one spirituality; there are many. But collectively I believe they come from one source, neither Christian nor Jew, Buddhist nor Hindu, Zoroastrian nor Islamic. Or any of the other spiritual practices around the world. We have let our spirituality be impacted by greed, by radicals who believe their way is the only way and everyone else should suffer for not believing in their way. We have even let these others tell us what we should and should not believe. And we listen.
The problem is there is no easy way to fix this. We have walked too far away from who we once were. Or have we? Have we the ability to look back and recover where we came from, what our ancestors taught us about living in this world? And again, I’m not talking about one race but the ancestors of our many races. Our combined humanity.
Can we repair what is so severely broken?
I don’t have the answer. It’s not that simple. But each of us in a way has part of the answer, part of the understanding that can begin the healing process.
If we would only reach inside and listen.
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Susan Campbell is a resident of Kalaheo.
