By Jill Steele
Author "Blood on the Orchids"
Owner Hawaiian Magic Tropical Flowers
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| Photo by Brad Lewis |
Topics on my mind for the past few days are the uncertainty of life and the meaning of community.
The definition of community is much broader than a group of people living in proximity of each other. Community is when this group works together, advocates and supports each other- especially through difficult circumstances. I have lived in my Kapoho subdivision for 25 years and only now have we become a community in the true sense of the word. I am proud of my community for a few reasons right now, but especially for organizing a water delivery system, that has through the purchase of miniature water towers, allowed us to live more comfortably during this emergency. We have water for four hours each day and we have now organized our lives around this schedule.
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| Photo by Brad Lewis |
Plans and goals for living are good but I’ve realized we can never know what lies ahead no matter how carefully we plan. “Go with the flow”, was a saying used often when the town of Pahoa was in the path of the lava a few years ago. It now sounds trite but is still incredibly relevant. I am coming around to the idea that we need plans for different outcomes with regards to our personal situation and proximity to the eruption. We continue to edit our belongings, giving away what might be useful to those who have already lost their homes.
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| Photo by Brad Lewis |
We, meaning most of the population of the Big Island, are becoming amateur volcanologists and we trade new information with whomever we are with. I’ve learned that black sand beaches are formed when hot lava explodes into tiny fragments upon reaching the water. I was thinking about this as we walked this morning by a small black/olivine sand beach on the Kapoho lava flow. It’s Memorial weekend and usually there is a tent city of people camping on the flow by Champagne Pond for this holiday, but there was not one car, not one other person besides my husband and I and we were out there for one and a half hours. As we swam we could see in the distance the enormous cloud made by lava entering the ocean. On the plus side, without the crowds, the entire Champagne Pond area is cleaner than it has been in many years.
No matter what we are doing these past weeks, we can never forget what is happening just miles away, because we can see it, we hear the helicopters and our lives are changed. Often we don’t know which highway is open until we arrive at the checkpoint. It is not war and lives have not been lost, but homes, heirlooms and dreams have been destroyed.
Please let it end soon.
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