Autobiography
I am Kealiʻi Carl Peterson and I was born on the island of Oahu in 2000 to Susan and Cj Peterson. In my family I have two brothers who live at home and one sister who currently lives in Seattle. I have lived in Kailua at the same house on Kaiemi Street my whole life. I stay very active by playing indoor and beach volleyball, surfing, fishing, bodyboarding, working-out, hiking, and paddling. While growing I had many pets which included chickens, fish, dogs, turtles, and jackson chameleon’s. I have attend many schools, but the most important one I got into was Kamehameha in ninth grade. My mauna and wai are Kalaheo and Kawainui. These two things are important in my life because I have grown up between the two my whole life and they have shaped me into the man I am today. I have walked through Kawainui almost once a day sense I was born. I have walked through it with my pets, family, girlfriends, and every time it amazes me the beauty in my back yard. Kalaheo has roots in my family because they have attended the school sense its creation and I run the hill to workout. The rains and winds in Kailua are Ua-ʻĀpuakea and Malanai.These two things feed my area and make it a beautiful place. The rains keep the land green and the winds makes Kailua always a cool place. Mālama Honua to me is being conscience of the land and recognizing its importance and the need to care of it. We need to constantly be aware of our symbiotic relationship with the land and not take it for granted. The land gives us life by providing food and other substances we need to live and in return we must take of it. Mālama Honua differs from one person to the next, but the main idea behind it is to take care of the land. My pets and my active lifestyle have helped to constantly shape my Mālama Honua mindset. My pets helped me realize the importance of the land to every creature on earth and how its everyone’s duty to take care of it not just a handful of people. Many of my physical activates take place in many different environments which has allowed me to observe the extent of man’s negative affect on the environment. One time I went on my brother boat and we went out a few miles from shore. While rigging up the poles I noticed a plastic bottle floating in the water and it made me sad because I know that there is a lot more trash out in the water destroying the ocean and killing sea life. So, I picked up the trash and disposed of it when I got back to shore. Almost every outdoor activity I do I have seen more and more of the disrespect people have for the Honua and it has fueled me not to be like the people who do that. Another event in my life that shaped my understanding of Mālama Honua happened one day when I was hanging out with some Hawaiian workers of my dad. We were eating lunch at my father job site and when they finished their food through their garbage into some bushes and walked off. I was young and I thought highly of my Hawaiian blood because I thought we were supposed to people who loved the land, but that myth was shattered by these Hawaiian men. I realized that theirs was problems with everyone not taking care of the land including Hawaiians. Alohaʻāina and Mālama Honua to me have very similar meanings. They both mean that you need to take care of the land. Alohaʻāina is to love the land and to do that you must Mālama Honua. These two words are intertwined and one is nothing without the other. If you don’t Alohaʻāina then you most likely won’t Mālama Honua which sadly many people do. You have to have a love for the land which isn’t instilled in people these days and that is why the environment is so bad now. This disrespect of the ʻāina isn’t just from one group of people because even Hawaiians now days don’t show love for the ʻāina. As a student of Mālama HonuaI hope to learn through a Hawaiian perspective and find new ways to care for the land. I hope to learn a lot and be able to take what I learn and apply it to my life right now and in the future. I hope to move off to the mainland after finishing college and aspire to take my Hawaiian culture with me and be able to share it with others who are interested. |
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