Week 32 - ending 8/12: Maui Strong

We parked in the lot off Dickenson Street and walked the couple of blocks to Front Street. As we were walking my dad stopped and said, "this is the spot! When you were 12 years old you were walking in front of me, stopped, turned around and proclaimed, 'I am going to live here one day!' And you did." His face lit up and he smiled as he recounted the events from long ago.

That visit was just prior to the pandemic and the last time I was in Lahaina. Little did I know it would be the last time I would ever be the Lahaina I knew from age 12. It is a reminder of another placed based memory that now only exists in my mind. My father is no longer with us, nor is that place.

On August 8 a fire started in the hills above Lahaina. This is nothing new as every year the dry brush, high winds and aging electrical poles seem to spark a blaze. Except on this day, it was different. With a category 4 hurricane, hurricane Dora, churning to the south higher than normal wind gusts of 60 mph were experienced. One ember one mile one minute and a historic city turned into an inferno.

The stories of survival are coming out. People not being told to evacuate and having to make the decision on their own. Many running to save their lives and jumping into the Pacific in an attempt to escape. Others ran in any direction, attempting to escape, without being able to see, or breathe, from the smoke. The death toll is rising every day.

Prior to August 8, Lahaina thrived as a tourist mecca with a rich history. For over 50 years Lahaina was the capital of the Kingdom of Hawai'i, anchored by a 150 year old banyan tree and home to the oldest public boarding school west of the Mississippi river. All physical buildings and artifacts from this time are now gone. Memories and pictures are all that exist.

Beside the rich history specific to Hawai'i, many visitors have a history with this place. Engagements, first dates, first kisses, first vacations, last vacations, and honeymoons are energetically etched in her streets, sand, walls and wind.

Right now nobody can get into Lahaina. However, the authorities have forgotten about the people past Lahaina. The ones with no electricity, no cell service, no gas, no food, no running water. They are stuck. They cannot leave and they cannot get supplies.

As I watched the news this evening they showed a woman crying as rescue crews arrived to drop off supplies. She was so worried about feeding her two children and dogs. I watched as the rescuers dished out small bowls of kalua pig and cabbage and handed out bottled water. One meal on one day with no reassurance of more to come.

The next story showed video of someone walking through the streets and approaching their home. It was rubble. Burned completely to the ground. As she approached she saw her neighbor dead in the street, followed by her two cats that had tried to escape but couldn't get out. The tears, sorrow and anguish is heard in her cries. However, all these stories, pictures and video do little in helping us really understand what they are going through. For I sit and watch them in the comfort of my house with clean water, air and utilities.

In the next frame the news panned to a camera at the Grand Wailea Resort in Wailea Maui, just 45 minutes from Lahaina. The tourists indulging in food, drinks and swimming in the pools. Careless and carefree. Overjoyed to be spending a relaxing week in "paradise." Spending frivolously and expecting luxury for the price they paid. All the while the person who was scheduled to work the shift and serve you is sitting in a shelter. Their worldly possessions consist of the clothes on their back.

Now I know we cannot blame the tourists who saved for months and made their plans weeks ago, but we can be aware of dichotomy. Those whose paradise has been realized in the pools of a fancy resort, and those who paradise has been reduced to rubble.

While the fires and devastation may not have occurred in your backyard, state or even country, consider the lesson. One ember one minute one mile. While some have lost it all, the rest of us are willing to give it all. Outpouring of love and help from across the state. People offering their homes, money, boats and resources for those in need.

The physical history of a place has been lost, but the countless memories that were created there live on in the hearts of all those who have been there. One place that touched lives around the world. If you were touched by Lahaina too please share the memories and photos so we can keep Lahaina alive.