In the 18th century when British explorer Capt. James Cook discovered a spectacular chain of islands in the middle of the Pacific and named them after expedition sponsor the Earl of Sandwich, he had every reason to believe that he had just stumbled upon paradise on Earth. Sandwiche's name would live on for his culinary innovation but those islands are now called Hawaii. It was a place utterly unlike the kingdom Cook had sailed from. Although it was then the richest ,most advanced and powerful empire in the world ,it's capitol contained enormous unhealthy slums, it's countryside had numerous poor and landless. In that age of enormous economic upheaval many of its people were worse off than their serf ancestors.
Hawaiians, on the other hand wanted for nothing. Nature provided a rich diet in fruit and seafood. Where nature left off Hawaiians supplemented its offerings with the tarro and pigs they had brought with them centuries earlier from Polynesia. Their surroundings were beautiful. The climate was ideal.
After initial contact Cook and the scientists on board began to reassess their first impressions .All was not well in paradise. Hawaiians were pitted in conflict with each other. The wars between and within royal households were bloody and protracted, almost genocidal. Their rulers were absolute, and rarely benign. The penalty for allowing your shadow to fall on anyone of royal blood was death. The Hawaiian word taboo applied to a vast code of conduct. The penalties for even accidental slips in decorum could entail execution or banishment. Many, even most of the strictures of taboo appear arbitrary and ridiculous to us.. In Hawaii before Cook's discovery ,the code of taboo meant everything, and no man or woman dared disobey.
I've often wondered how and why Hawaiians got it so wrong. They had such a good thing going for them. There was passion fruit and mahi mahi, rich volcanic soil, lush vegetation, and beautiful wahinees, hula and pig roasts on the beach. Why not concentrate on just enjoying what life had to offer? Why mess things up with spiteful warfare and so many meaningless ,wasteful, and harmful rules? With all those natural advantages why discard the opportunity to be the happiest ,freest people on Earth? I'm not sure I want an answer to those questions. I'm afraid it may be that freedom is not entirely compatible with human nature .Freedom is a burden few of us wish to bare. Hawaii is not an outlier or an anomaly, it's just an extreme example of the problem with human nature.
In a library a few days ago I'd picked up an article to read about a nine year old super athlete. Milla Bizzotto had taken up exercise to increase strength when bullies at school were making life difficult. She loved working out .Recently she won top place in her age group in a national test of strength in the form of a grueling obstacle course based on Navy Seals training. She had this to say," I don't want to play video games. I don't want to Hoverboard. I don't want to do things to make life easier. I want to be comfortable being uncomfortable." . She's my hero. At nine she's already wiser than 99 point something of all the adults I've ever met. Putting the article down I almost shouted her words to the boys playing animated games on the library computers nearby. I managed to restrain the impulse. All the boys looked to me to prefer playing computer games to anything requiring actual physical effort. All were overweight. One was obese.
Freedom begins with the liberty to act for ourselves, but once that is possible the extent of our actual freedom depends on what we do with that liberty. Mostly it's squandered. Making bad choices and acting on them, or failing to act deepens our loss of a sense of accountability .Choosing not to grow is choosing to loose ground to our own worst instincts .When we face the results of our own poor decisions, human nature has us looking for external causes to our problems rather than facing our own deficiencies head on. There will always be others to channel our disfatifications to feed their insatiable need for power. Take a look at the candidates in this election season.
On a positive note I try to remember that the loss of freedom is not inevitable. When all around you are heading down the wrong path you are free to step aside and set your our own agenda. There's nothing stopping you . Choose freedom, accept accountability over comfort even when it runs counter to popular opinion, respectability, or convenience. It matters.
Hawaiians, on the other hand wanted for nothing. Nature provided a rich diet in fruit and seafood. Where nature left off Hawaiians supplemented its offerings with the tarro and pigs they had brought with them centuries earlier from Polynesia. Their surroundings were beautiful. The climate was ideal.
After initial contact Cook and the scientists on board began to reassess their first impressions .All was not well in paradise. Hawaiians were pitted in conflict with each other. The wars between and within royal households were bloody and protracted, almost genocidal. Their rulers were absolute, and rarely benign. The penalty for allowing your shadow to fall on anyone of royal blood was death. The Hawaiian word taboo applied to a vast code of conduct. The penalties for even accidental slips in decorum could entail execution or banishment. Many, even most of the strictures of taboo appear arbitrary and ridiculous to us.. In Hawaii before Cook's discovery ,the code of taboo meant everything, and no man or woman dared disobey.
I've often wondered how and why Hawaiians got it so wrong. They had such a good thing going for them. There was passion fruit and mahi mahi, rich volcanic soil, lush vegetation, and beautiful wahinees, hula and pig roasts on the beach. Why not concentrate on just enjoying what life had to offer? Why mess things up with spiteful warfare and so many meaningless ,wasteful, and harmful rules? With all those natural advantages why discard the opportunity to be the happiest ,freest people on Earth? I'm not sure I want an answer to those questions. I'm afraid it may be that freedom is not entirely compatible with human nature .Freedom is a burden few of us wish to bare. Hawaii is not an outlier or an anomaly, it's just an extreme example of the problem with human nature.
In a library a few days ago I'd picked up an article to read about a nine year old super athlete. Milla Bizzotto had taken up exercise to increase strength when bullies at school were making life difficult. She loved working out .Recently she won top place in her age group in a national test of strength in the form of a grueling obstacle course based on Navy Seals training. She had this to say," I don't want to play video games. I don't want to Hoverboard. I don't want to do things to make life easier. I want to be comfortable being uncomfortable." . She's my hero. At nine she's already wiser than 99 point something of all the adults I've ever met. Putting the article down I almost shouted her words to the boys playing animated games on the library computers nearby. I managed to restrain the impulse. All the boys looked to me to prefer playing computer games to anything requiring actual physical effort. All were overweight. One was obese.
Freedom begins with the liberty to act for ourselves, but once that is possible the extent of our actual freedom depends on what we do with that liberty. Mostly it's squandered. Making bad choices and acting on them, or failing to act deepens our loss of a sense of accountability .Choosing not to grow is choosing to loose ground to our own worst instincts .When we face the results of our own poor decisions, human nature has us looking for external causes to our problems rather than facing our own deficiencies head on. There will always be others to channel our disfatifications to feed their insatiable need for power. Take a look at the candidates in this election season.
On a positive note I try to remember that the loss of freedom is not inevitable. When all around you are heading down the wrong path you are free to step aside and set your our own agenda. There's nothing stopping you . Choose freedom, accept accountability over comfort even when it runs counter to popular opinion, respectability, or convenience. It matters.
No comments:
Post a Comment