We shared much more than food. We shared play things, hand-me-down clothes, fruits, snacks, baseball cards, oh and comic books. We also shared experiences, stories, events, performances, music and parental discipline. Actually, we shared everything. Maui was very small when I was growing up; maybe thirty thousand people lived here then. Sharing, I think, was a way of life. I still like to share and I hope this column will be something that I share with all of you. You’ve heard of the saying “Sharing is caring”? Well, I care deeply for this island; this community we share.
Kababayan let me tell you that the greatest thing we share is our “way of life.” I want make sure that our daily experience of life on Maui reflects the excellence of our fair weather, of the beauty that surrounds us, of our way of easily relating to and caring for each other, no matter who we are or even where we come from. I was fortunate, even blessed, in being born and raised on Maui. The way “us kids” were never alone and how there was always at least one responsible, even disciplined adult, in charge of anything and everything we were doing, left an impression on me. And so, I especially want to contribute to the reality of the dictum that “It takes a whole village to raise a child.” As we go about our lives, our way of life, let us make sure that no child is left alone, or hungry, confused or abused, or left to “go it alone.”
So, let me say that this column will be about how we share, and care and live with each other. It will be about those everyday experiences that make us want to pause and say “Ah ha, that’s our way of life!” It will be about those diverse, cultural, social, qualitative and even emotional realities that give context to the relationships, and experiences, that make up our way of life. Have an idea or a comment or even a question, contact me at the email address for this column: atingkabuhayan@gmail.com
Until next time, take care!
John A. Hau’oli Tomoso + is a Social Worker and Episcopal Priest. He is a Priest Associate at Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in Wailuku and an on-call Chaplain at Maui Memorial Medical Center. Tomoso was graduated from St. Anthony Jr./ Sr. High School in Wailuku and earned his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Sociology from the College of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he met his wife Susan, who is a 7th grade Language Arts Teacher at Maui Waena Intermediate School. Tomoso received his M.S.W. from the Myron B. Thompson School of Social Work at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa in 1977. He retired from the civil service in our County Government, as the Maui County Executive on Aging in 2008 and is currently the Executive Director of the non-profit Tri-Isle Resource Conservation and Development Council, Inc. If you have any thoughts, comments or questions, you may email Tomoso at atingkabuhayan@gmail.com.