For the Love of Water and Peace ©
By Suzanne Maxx
In Kauai, Hawaii, water day is every day, as it is known to be one of the wettest spots on Earth. Today, what there is to do on World Water Day is exclaim to the world why water is so mission-critical for us all to fall in love with now, especially for peace on our planet.
There is deep gratitude to build community around the various ways water is in our lives here on this island, and island Earth. It is falling in love with the Ocean again, deeper each day, but also the rivers, streams, waterfalls’ natural pools, water-terraced taro fields, and the moisture of rain and snow (yes, snow on the Big Island of Hawaii), and especially the abundant rainbows.
The issue is up; how to better come into balance on Earth for humanity with nature-based systems, especially for water equality, purity, and peace and access for all. It is hard to imagine that over 2 billion people cannot access clean water. I wonder how many of us really contemplate how our bodies are made up of water. How water in blood is vital, and how the many elements that make up the Ocean and also the contents of our blood. Water and our breath are what we all have in common in the body here on Earth. All worldly religions integrate water as part of their ultimate mystery as well. The value and respect for water could become a number one priority, along with love and peace. In atonement with nature, what if more of the collective choose to transcend antiquated systems, structures, and values to transform what we hold in our hearts?
What if we flow like water, running through and over rocks with ease and grace? How water cleanses, purifies our hearts, and heals our bodies is like nothing else. Water resets and calibrates our bodies, minds, and spirits to their highest potential. It brings us myriads of ways for us to be quenched and entertained with so many aquatic sports and experiences in and amidst its presence. Do we bring the deserved reverence to water each time it is used, entered, or collected?
To trickle down as sunlight illuminates through the water to create the colorful mist and spectrum of the rainbow, reflects how we may aim in, with gratitude to learning from one of the greatest teachers of all: the water itself. As water peacefully nourishes the grown and grows the seed, and is at the base of all in life! Water and much of life that we celebrate on one day- deserve gratitude and celebration every day. We exercise peace in the Ocean-Float exercises and experiences.
Growing up, my mother and WTN Board Member Walter Andrews both worked at EPA Region 2 Water Supply, so water was a big part of family discussions, school projects, and how I came to be introduced to the Virgin Islands early on in life and to prioritize water. Like many of us, as we transition around with travel, plastic bottles of water can become a constant drinking water source. The path that led me to remain here in Kauai, Hawaii, was influenced by the water.
Since living in Hawaii and having real fresh, pure, and clean water access, I’ve gotten off of plastics and moved to glass gallon jars of water. Sometimes, I must refill my water from a local store with a water system, but it is not chlorinated and is filtered. Still, it is a joy to be able to get water from the pure freshwater spring coming out of the mountains up from the rocks and a known source of purity on the North Shore that remains intact with a watershed with nothing above but mountain rock and sky. I feel great drinking live fresh water. The famous water source, as Hawaiian lore will share, has all kinds of legends, including this water’s ability to support the longevity of life force. The water is not easy to reach (which comes with most all things that are truly good and genuine) and requires a hand-over-fist advanced rock climb (without a rope) with a very steep rock wall face in the jungle area, where the only thing to hold on to are tree branches and vines.
In the quest to use water for peace beyond transnational boundaries, corruption is one of the largest geopolitical issues that many do not contemplate. Watershed contamination, reservoirs, and water policies question where justice is, and as we become aware, it is truly just for us to realize. The question of honesty, integrity, and other noble virtues have yet to be applied to situations such as the Colorado River, Jackson, Mississippi, The Tibetan Plateau, and the region sitting on the global kingpin of water, which many are fooled to think is merely a religious issue. Is it a wonder that China has taken control of Tibet? There are more water wars than worth giving any more energy to at this time of much-needed peace, globally.
If we ALL really understood that ownership of natural resources, like WATER, is at the root of most wars and conflicts, we might live in peace now. War from ownership of water, land, humans, animals, and ultimately nature itself could end our species and potentially this planet. Once a natural resource is “owned,” it changes the nature and essence of its miraculous free-flowing giving essence. Drinking water rights could be a basic human right for all people and a path towards making the world more sustainable and accessible for all people. Will we reach the global goals with water by 2030? Let’s try for as soon as possible?
Perhaps if the rest of the world followed the indigenous cultural traditions, we might better integrate water and all its forms with different words and motions that actually are essential to the dance of the sacred Hula and Hawaiian, which help remind people of the import of water. Then we might not have the tension exasperated from the extremes of drought or flood, and peace may be a quality of life for all. Aloha, meaning the breath, hello, goodbye, and love, is more than the word or spirit that moves through all, building the kinds of communities that are essential, like the water. Water and the Aloha spirit are an essential part of life entering Hawaii that we all hope gets passed forward as the greatest souvenir, besides leaving hearts to better calibrate with love.
