Page 2 - MidWeek - Sep 14, 2022

2 MIDWEEK SEPTEMBER 14, 2022
How Aloha Entered My Life
Many waters cannot quench love. — Song of Solomon
MUnmasking The Truth
Heidi Ho hugged me when we first met, not noticing anything unusual. I, however, instant- ly felt we had mysteriously become one. If work had not taken me to the University of California at Irvine that se- mester, just before I enrolled at Harvard Divinity School, I would not have met Heidi.
ment everything was new. That summer on Maui, her brother assured me
with the Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young
ore and more, we see faces masked less and less. What’s nice about Hawai‘i (usually) is that people can do their own thing at this point
that although she seemed nonchalant, she had nev- er before brought anyone home; she really cared for me.
person I was before aloha entered my life. From the coasts of California to Ha- wai‘i, I have learned that, indeed, “Many waters can- not quench love” (Song of
The Very Rev. Dr. Mal- colm Clemens Young is the dean of Grace Cathedral
in San Francisco, California. He has a doctoral degree in theology from Harvard Uni- versity and is the author of The Spiritual Journal of Henry David Thoreau and The Invisible Hand in the Wilderness: Economics, Ecology and God.
Chasing The Light is pro- duced by Lynne Johnson and Robin Stephens Rohr.
in the waning pandemic days (we hope) without being outwardly judged or admonished. Concerned for yourself, respectful of others? Wear a mask. Immunocompromised? Wear a mask. Caring or often in contact with ones deemed most vulnerable? Wear a mask.
As we walked on Lagu- na Beach, she talked about Hawai‘i — ahupua‘a, the monarchs and the Hawai- ian Renaissance. She taught me my first Hawaiian word: ka‘ehukai, or sea foam.
I wrote to her every day while she was in Africa. Pro-democracy demon- strations prevented her university from opening, and by December, chaos had closed down the pro- gram. She flew into Bos-
ton to see me on her way home, and we went straight to dinner.
Masking in Asia was an accepted practice long before the COVID virus made most other continents aware of its potential value. People wore masks in Asia more than 60 years ago and the reasons why have increased — to prevent the spread of germs, to avoid wearing makeup, to protect against air pollution and auto exhaust — even as a “social firewall” in China, according to a March 2020 Voice of America commentary.
Solomon).
So, what happens next? Will the upcoming flu season encourage more people to remain masked more often? After all, our isolation tendencies plus masking were key reasons that flu deaths in the U.S. fell from an average of 36,000 annually in 2010-19 to about 700 during the 2020- 21 flu season.
We seemed to have no future as a couple; she was going to study Kiswahili in Nairobi, and I would be go- ing to Harvard. So when I expressed a romantic interest, she stopped answering my phone calls. Finally I pleaded
Through falling snow, we walked into an old stone chapel as I told her that my parents had met at a party just across the common. Coming down the aisle I added that my grandfather had pro- posed to my grandmother on a nearby hill. We stopped at the altar, where I continued: “This is where they were
The author fondly recalls how he met his wife, Heidi. They’ve now been married 30 years. PHOTOS COURTESY THE VERY REV. DR. MALCOLM CLEMENS YOUNG
We’re just now experiencing what it’s like to socialize regularly in person sans masks for the first time in two-plus years. We’re all doing that post-COVID social dance — do I hug or fist bump, shake hands or high five, give a minor bow or a semi bro hug? It’s all so confusing. Heck, we socially distanced at 6 feet when, in retrospect, perhaps 12 feet would’ve served us better.
New Century Schoolbook bold (scaled H 73.6)
into her answering machine, “I know you are there. Please answer.” She did. We became a couple, and from that mo-
married . . . and this was my grandmother’s ring. Will you marry me?” Although usually talkative, Heidi was momen- tarily speechless.
KELLEY
Today, 30 years since we married, I barely recognize the
We went into restaurants masked and then pulled down our face guards for 90 minutes as we stuffed our faces and/ or enjoyed well-deserved libations. Seems incongruent now, doesn’t it? We stuffed nine or more Zoom meetings into eight hours, a self-defeating business game that has been shown to be a stress-inducing, rather ineffective and an incomplete use of our time and brains.
We “trusted” family members and really good friends to come visit, but distrusted the general public because we had no clue who “they” had been in contact with, or for how long. In 1988, comedian Dennis Miller joked that the toughest job in America was bank teller in Alaska ... you know, everybody walks in with a mask on! It was funny back then. We may breathe easier; many have decided that they’re kinda done with this novel coronavirus, but is it done with us?
Think about it.
john@thinkaboutithawaii.com