Many people like to pick up rocks, shells from beaches or islands for whatever reason. Souvenir, beauty, reminders.
Did you know that Hawai’i has mail-in programs to return rocks people have taken from the islands?
Over my lifetime, I’ve had the honor of learning from Native Hawaiian friends and community about Indigenous values of being one with the land, of collective care of the land, and of the need for our humility as humans in relationship to the land.
And while it may not seem like one rock, or shell is small compared to entire beaches and coasts, yes, even the removal of that one rock impacts the entire ecosystem. Even one, but also, add up the thousands of people that take tens of thousands of those rocks and shells.
So much so that Hawai’i receives hundreds of rocks back from people who return them through these mail-in programs.
But instead of mailing them in to return them, where volunteers then have to place them back, and probably cannot place them in the exact location you removed it from, why not just not take it in the first place?
There are so many reasons for us not to do this.
When you take that rock, did you give something in return?
Those rocks, and shells, are what become the sand in the first place. The sand that makes up the beaches and coasts that we love. Each grain of sand has a relationship to erosion, marine life, the air, plant life, and the entire ecosystem.
Also, Native Hawaiian relationships with the land are not just that it is land. It is Āina. It is part of the family ‘ohana, to be respected, loved, and honored. Sacred.
Indigenous culture has had for millennia all the mappings of how we can coexist on this planet. The way has never been vague or hidden. It is there, held by generations.
ANd capitalism ad white dominant culture are directly oppositional to those values. So we really need to heed that wisdom of āina and ‘ohana. Because the planet will exist without us. The question is, are we humble enough to exist with it?
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