Looking Ahead

Editors Note - by John Romain

In pre-contact Hawai`i there was no written language. It was a time when the sound of a word invoked a visual picture of meaning. Like a hologram each vowel sound contained the very essence of a primary god. Language then, in a very real sense, brought an aspect of the divine into everyday life in way that, today, is experienced only in the realm of poetry.

The purpose of this column "Looking Ahead" is to share with our friends and affiliates our vision of the future of the Hana Coast, not as a tactical master plan, but rather as a fluid and unfolding picture that unites the wisdom of the past with the promise of the future. Ours is not a vision of land preservation in a stagnant, frozen in time, sense but that of utilization of land in a way that is respectful of those that have gone before and with consideration for those that are yet to come. As J. Kalani English suggests in "Creating Sacred Sites for Today," our challenge is to both reinvigorate the sacred sites of old and to create new sacred sites for today.

Each "Looking Ahead" column will address one aspect of this vision. This, our first installment, looks at Hawaiian fishponds.

Revitalizing Hana's Fishponds

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