Reflection

On our walk yesterday, Kawika shared a story: when the alii went surfing the Hawaiian people were not allowed to be on the waves, but one afternoon a chieftess was surfing and a man on the beach caught her eye, and when she came in from surfing she gave him her special lei so he could go surf even though there were still some alii in the water.

I don't why, but I thought a lot about the chieftess. I was struck by her empathy and her lokomaika'i (generosity) and her ola kiho maikai (goodheartedness). For me, empathy (I'm not sure what it means in Hawaiian), the ability to put yourself in the shoes of another, is so important especially as counselors and teachers since our students come in with such a variety of past experiences, and starting college is such a transitional point in their lives. I hope I am attuned to what our kahikoluamea students are feeling and that I can be there to offer that symbolic lei to them.