Aloha

Aloha.

Most Americans have heard the word; many understand it to be a Hawaiian greeting, meaning roughly "Hello" or "Goodbye." "Aloha" is commonly used in just that way, so those people aren't wrong...

Their understanding is incomplete.

"Aloha" is much richer than "Hello" or "Goodbye." Wikipedia got it right: "Aloha in the Hawaiian language means affection, love, peace, compassion and mercy."

Aren't those wonderful sentiments to include when saying "Hello" or "Goodby?"

From the first moment of the first time I set foot on the island of Kauai, I could feel the aloha. That's how locals often talk about it; as if "Aloha" were something tangible you could breathe in. It's a spiritual thing, but oh, so real. When the people (and maybe even the land itself) feels affection, love, peace, compassion, and mercy, you can feel it.

Aloha has a powerful effect on people. It doesn't leave us alone. It changes us.

Of course it does; one of the things Aloha is is love.

I started this post because every time I come to the Islands I notice how many more beautiful women there are. It isn't that they are more physically beautiful than their counterparts elsewhere--they run the usual gamut of tiny to big, shapely to shapeless, in all the colors of humanity--but there's Aloha. And Aloha makes people beautiful.

It makes sense, if you think about it. We've all known someone whose features were perhaps rather ordinary, but whose animation, liveliness, happiness, joy, whatever, make them amazing and beautiful. They're unselfconscious and satisfied with who they are, they are content with their lot in life, they are fulfilled... and that makes them maybe not pretty, but beautiful.

I think that's why so many Hawaiians (whether Native or transplant) are beautiful. It's the Aloha. When Aloha infuses you and your environment--when you are bathed in affection, love, peace, compassion, and mercy--you are far more likely to be unselfconscious and satisfied with who you are, content with your lot in life, fulfilled...

And if you're all those things, how could you help being beautiful?

In the culture of my daily existence, people too seldom experience affection, love, peace, compassion, and mercy. Without Aloha, people tend to be self-conscious, dissatisfied with who they are, discontented, unfulfilled... and that leaves them completely dependent on their physical charms. And if that's all you've got and you aren't perfect, you're going to be unhappy and friends, being unhappy doesn't make you more beautiful.

One of the great gifts Hawaii has to offer the world is Aloha. The world needs it--we all need it--and Hawaii's got it. But it isn't something that can be taken from Hawaii; rather, Hawaii must give it as a gift. But Aloha is one of those wonderful gifts that, no matter how much you give away, your own supply will never be diminished; the act of sharing Aloha multiplies it.

And you don't have to be Hawaiian to give and live Aloha. Anyone can share affection, love, peace, compassion, and mercy. Anyone can make the world a better, more beautiful place.

Live the Aloha.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad 2

Location:Hoohu Rd,Koloa,United States