Page 2 - MidWeek - Oct 27, 2021

2 MIDWEEK OCTOBER 27, 2021
To Sing In Rattlesnake Fields
“The person who risks nothing ... may avoid suffering and sorrow, but ... simply cannot learn, feel, change, grow, live, and love.” — Leo Buscaglia
ORiding High
Years ago, my sister and I ran through a valley of tall grass chasing butterflies on an end- less summer day. Our sing- ing and boundless laughter broke through the silence of the vast field surrounded by the well-worn mountains of Appalachia.
n July 20, a Honolulu fire truck was stolen on Farrington Highway. The suspect was appre- hended, without incident, shortly thereafter.
outdoors? Possibly, with her mask. Eating inside a restau- rant? Not for a while.
On Aug. 2, four people scaled the Hālawa station HART fence and decided to traipse alongside the tracks and the now deadly (as it’s electrified for test- ing) third rail. Fortunately, no one was hurt. On Oct. 8, a man stole a loader dump truck and drove around erratically, causing consternation for other drivers as police chased him for almost five hours between downtown and Waikīkī. He was eventually captured after much HPD patience and some nervous moments. This was surely not the right type of entertainment to bring tourists back to the islands.
Our mother, up the hill from the field at our grand- parents’ home, heard her children’s elation. She de- scended a steep dirt drive- way, espied us, and stood stock still against a backdrop of pine trees. We could see her face was frozen, her lips struggling to move, but she could not speak. Confused, we ran toward her, breath- less and anticipating her embrace. After she hugged us longer than usual, she was able to find her words: “Nev-
After playing in grassy fields potentially wrought with rattlesnake nests, the author learned that much of life is being able to balance courage with caution.
an extra chromosome and having already overcome obstacles, wants to resume exploring the world she has known more than half her life since we moved to Hawai‘i. My husband and I navigate the daily risks we are willing to take. In-person learning? Only after being vaccinated. Playing with other children
Of course, we know that as parents, we have a long road ahead. We will need to teach our daughter to balance being alert for rattlesnake nests with courageously savoring the journey before her; to respect boundaries but appreciate limitless possibilities; to learn to hold back but not be afraid to pass through dark forests to find bright fields — where she can sing with abandon.
Perhaps you’re detecting a trend here? A new breed of nonchalant, clueless and/or troubled individuals see a vehicular or transit opening and simply take it — lit- erally! As for hopping a fence with no sense of danger around rail tracks, well, now everyone knows. Death lurks as the track works. We might’ve had our first HART “rider” fatality before the entity actually started running, which occurs only if we get wheels that fit. At least a HART thief can’t take the train anywhere.
er play in that field again. You could have fallen right onto rattlesnake nests.”
and me in that moment. For decades, even after feeling ready to enter the vast fields of college, careers, marriage and parenthood, our joy has always been leavened with caution.
Rüdiger “Rudy” Herzing Rückmann is a Quaker, poet and director of advancement at Hawai‘i Youth Symphony.
Chasing The Light is pro- duced by Lynne Johnson and Robin Stephens Rohr.
Maybe these are all warnings. The easy days of ca- sually leaving a bus running or the car idling while you do your work or relax outside said vehicles are gone. Sensitive equipment and electronic-based re- mote systems often require responding pros to leave the motors humming. So far this year, no one’s been seriously hurt. But if vehicular snatching can happen with a refuse vehicle and a fire truck, what about HPD patrol cars or ambulances? What about city, tour and school buses? Maybe meandering miscreants have simply gotten bolder, or care less about consequences; thus ends the era of casually leaving one’s car/truck/ bus/train/airplane purring.
Life changed for my sister
New Century Schoolbook bold (scaled H 73.6)
Caution hangs over us still, well into the second year of the pandemic. My daughter, not yet a teenager, born with
KELLEY
LIGHT
with Rüdiger “Rudy” Herzing Rückmann
Brazen bystanders locally now appear ready to enjoy a joyride when the moment strikes them, a concept over which first responders or any responders might have little control. Taking the keys out of vehicles would be counterproductive to the mission, or seem like an affront to decency and civility, but many of us also remember not having to lock up our homes years ago. As Chilliwack and Bad Company each sang, those days are sadly “gone, gone, gone.”
Think about it ...
john@thinkaboutithawaii.com