Day 5: Impact
In Hawaiian the word is “kapu.” It means “no trespassing” or “forbidden.”
Growing up in the islands, it’s something you saw here and there. Hand-painted on a sign at the entrance of a long dirt road into the forest. Etched into a wooden post at a fork in the trail. Next to an ancient burial ground in big bold letters along with a warning: “KAPU! DO NOT MOVE ROCKS.”
A friend of mine once visited the islands to film a music video.
He shot it in a dormant volcano — a place I had grown up visiting on special occasions. A sacred place to me personally, but deeply, immeasurably so to native Hawaiians.
The inside of the volcano looks like another planet. It is shielded on all sides from the wind and the rain. Inside, fields of volcanic rock and ash spread for miles, spotted by flowers found nowhere else in the world.
More stars shine each night than you see in a whole year living in the city. And it is so, so quiet.
Understandably it is kapu to walk anywhere but on marked trails. With so little wind and rain and plant life, footprints leave permanent “scars” on the landscape.
I watched my friend’s music video a few months later and my heart sank. In one scene he runs right across the volcano floor, kicking up stones and gravel behind him.
I can’t blame him. He’s not from the islands — he didn’t know any better. But it hurt to watch.
There was a saying I grew up with that became almost like a motto in my teenage years. It’s a core principle followed by naturalists and outdoorsman.
“Leave no trace.”
In other words, respect the land. Respect the place. Be sensitive to the impact you have on your environment.
Enjoy it. But do your best to leave it as you found it, so others can enjoy it too.
Now that I live in the city, it’s easy to forget this.
The streets are dirty. What’s the harm in another piece of trash?
The people are rushed and guarded. Why should I make any effort to be kind?
Sometime I have to remind myself of where I come from. Because whether I realize it or not, I am making an impact on the place and the people around me.
The question is simply: “What kind of impact do I want to have?”