One of the things that makes Hawaii so beautiful are the contrasts. The deep green jungles and the strong clear waves; the high volcanic mountains next to flat swamps.
And Mauna Kea is a mountain of contrasts. Considered sacred by Hawaiians, instead of being peaceful it has lately been the subject of fierce debate and protest due to the planned construction of a telescope on its summit, a fight that is in sharp disparity to its windswept, quiet slopes.
The highest place in Hawaii, Mauna Kea has snow on its summit but is surrounded by the clear blue waters of Hawaii. In fact, the whole mountain is 33,000 feet from the ocean floor, though only 10,000 of it is above.
The sides of the mountain are bare volcanic rock and harsh red dirt, but the lookouts showcase valleys of clouds. At the top, the air is thin enough to make me gasp when I do a quick walk, but coming back down there is so much extra air that the headlights fight through fog.
And the the high, bright sun shines through the rain on the grass lands below.
It is in the middle of a tropical island, but it is also the coldest the boys have ever been. Eliot in particular was baffled and confused, and when those emotions didn’t cut it, furious. He did not understand why he had to wear a big fluffy coat, but if he took the fluffy coat off the winds froze him. He kept screaming, “DON’T WANT IT. DON’T WANT IT”, and ended up spending most of his afternoon in the car while the adults rotated hiking and watching him: climbing and falling over the back seats, over and over and over again.
And so we came to a mountain so he could play in the car.
Sometimes, we need to be present in places like this, we need to be reminded of the beauty in the contrasts. Because, let’s face it, things that are the same are easier. We don’t fight when we have the same opinions, we don’t have to climb mountains if there are only plains, and we don’t ever know the weight and bulk of a coat if it is only ever 70 degrees.
And we, all of us, me too, gravitate towards same-ness. We know what we like and we have made up our minds. And somehow, someway, if we do the same things in the same places day after day, the entirety of big decisions in our lives can come down to which deliverable pizza is the best or which TV show we should start with; and these can seem like decisions that are worth fighting over.
But if we’re going to live wholly, fully, we need to know the hot sun and the strong winds, the mountain tops and ocean depths. We can travel, we can read books, and we can have conversations with those around us, and we can make sure we are not locked into the same people or the same opinions. We can find the contrasts, and find a bigger world.
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