Tag: Philosophy of life
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The Akoni Four Challenge: How Surfing Can Teach Us How To Live
As we strive to survive during the first true global pandemic, we should reflect inward and rejoice in the many gifts we receive from mother Earth that we depend on, especially the sea. Here I focus on the lessons we learn from surfing and how it teaches us to live.
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Are Animals Conscious and Does it Matter?
Many people hope that some day we may meet an intelligent being from another world. Hollywood tells us this stranger will come flying down in a spaceship, and will look a bit like us. Most importantly, he’ll have a mind like ours and we’ll figure out how to communicate in a few hours. But maybe…
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What if Life Chooses you?
I don’t know if we each have a destiny, or if we’re all just floating around accidental-like on a breeze, but I, I think maybe it’s both. Maybe both is happening at the same time. — Forrest Gump What if we have it all wrong? What if instead of living our lives through our…
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Science and Ethics in the Hawaii Marine Aquarium Trade
Conservation and conflict are irreparably linked as we address human’s widening impact on the planet. From a broader perspective we are moving forward as our new values and perspectives clash with the old. However, for those in the conservation trenches in may not seem like progress when being attacked at public meetings, creating enemies and, in some cases, receiving…
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The Gentle Rains of Hilo
For all I’ve been blessed with in my life There was an emptiness in me I was imprisoned by the power of gold With one kind touch, you’ve set me free Let the world stop turning, let the sun stop burning Let them tell me love’s not worth going through If it all falls apart,…
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The Heart Stones of Trinidad
I took my love and took it down I climbed a mountain and I turned around And I saw my reflection in the snow-covered hills Till the landslide brought me down Oh, mirror in the sky, what is love? Can the child within my heart rise above? Can I sail through the changing ocean tides…
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My Second Life: the Miracle of a Kidney Transplant
July 30, 1993: the day my second life began with a kidney from my Dad. In September 1992 I died, leaving behind a young wife and a 3 month old daughter. Or I would have. I was 35 years old, we lived in Hilo, and hurricane Iniki was bearing down on the Hawaiian Islands, destination…
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Why (Some) Men are Idiots: the Storm Inside
“It is only when a man tames his own demons that he becomes the king of himself if not of the world.” ― Joseph Campbell, The Hero With a Thousand Faces The Storm Inside Sometimes I am pushed to do things I don’t understand, to push myself beyond all reason into a fight beyond all courage. To…
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Gifts from the Sea: the Lives We Touch
Twenty-two years ago I saved a women from drowning and I was recently reminded of how we are all connected and how simple acts can have profound consequences. It was 1992 and I had just moved to Hawaii to start a position as an Assistant Professor at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, my dream job. Barely…
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Gifts from the Sea: A Letter from my Mother
So there I was unpacking boxes from like the 20th move of my life. Growing up in a Navy family I was used to the drill but had forgotten the surprises. This move was different as my wife and I had moved from Washington State where we lived for 16 years; the longest I had ever lived in one…