I just connected with my Hawaiian family in Lahaina.
The family compound is on the water on Front Street. My brother Ekolu Lindsey’s hale was burned to the ground. The family compound was saved from what I can see, but his house is gone. The family house was where I was traditionally adopted into the Lindsey family just before Dad Lindsey died.
In front of the hale that was burnt was the place my Hawaiian father taught me to play the ukulele. He passed away in this house.
My Hawaiian grandfather was a policeman in Lahaina. He spent his life fishing just off the shore of this house and protecting the town from the rowdy sailors who would come ashore in the 1800s.
The loss here, in this moment of fury, was driven by a changing world that spawns Category 4 hurricanes that can change the face of an island 500 miles away. It is just a harbinger of things to come in this changing ecosystem.
We thought we were safe here on Maui, far from the scorching heat and massive weather events. We were wrong.
The entire planet is one village being devastated by man-made forces that we could reign in if we had the will.
It will take more than prayers, although those are important. Perhaps the prayers will change to action.
We are just one community. May this depth of sorrow bring us together.
Sean Lester
Kihei
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