Why I am Leaving Puna and Hawaii.

[Anagami]

OK, with Noel's last posting I am done. And what a perfect finish. I mean his website is called "Hilo Paradise"!!!! Talk about selling paradise!

Thanks Rob for the forum, and thanks Glen for your post.

Do not follow a life of evil; do not live heedlessly; do not have false views; do not value worldly things. In this way one can get rid of suffering. - The Dhammapada

[Carolann R]

It's good for you that you were able to see things that would keep you from moving here before you made a decision to do it. I wish you well. That's an honest sentiment - no slam.

I have never call this "paradise." It's beautiful here to be certain, but as stated in an earlier post - what is important is what is inside you.

I know there are drug and alcohol problems here big time. There were in Arizona too (where I joined AA, incidentally).

The weather is fine so it attracts people who can manage to survive in the outdoors and not have a conventional job. We had an issue in Arizona with panhandlers and people who migrated there for the nice weather.

We have earned what we own. We are not sitting in a castle on the hilltop, but work hard to keep a home that's less 1/2 the size of our Arizona home. Why?

A bumper sticker in front of us yesterday said "The best things in life aren't things." I liked that very much.

I have lived in New York State, San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles Area, Arizona and finally here in Hawaii. This is my home now. I'm here because I want to be - if you don't like it then your journey will hopefully take you to a place you love eventually. Godspeed.

Carrie

http://www.carrierojo.etsy.com
http://www.vintageandvelvet.blogspot.com

"Freedom has a scent like the top of a newborn baby's head..." U2

[Mlingen]

I think when you fall in love you just fall in love. You take whatever comes with it. We fell in love with a piece of land in Fern Forest. We are aching to get there. All of what you mention bubbles forth there. We are blind to it. We are not ignorant, just blind. Live and let live. Six acres of lush, warm, rainy, quiet, tropical, land 20 miles from Hilo, 20 miles from anything you might need or dream of needing. That is paradise because paradise is relative. It is our Oasis.
Right now, I live in paradise. Few would argue that living 20 minutes from Big Sur, walking the streets of quaint Carmel, and darting from the fog of beautiful Monterey to the always sunny Carmel Valley, and meeting only Aloha faces everywhere, is about as close as it gets. Yet, I have given it 30 years after landing here from New England, and I have not fallen in love. Oh, how I love my land in Hawaii. It calls to me daily. It is not logical. It just is for us. In addition, it is not for you. Go in peace. Find your place. It is somewhere. When you fall in love, you know it.

[malolo]

Funny. I still love it here. After 20+ years.
Have to pinch myself multiple times, daily, to see if it's a dream.

Then again, I'm pretty damn happy no matter where I am.
Sickeningly so, so I'm told.

Hmmm.
I wonder if I'm mentally ill.

Good luck to you, Anagami.
I hope you find what you're looking for.

---malolo

[JaredI]

Happiness is not having what you want but wanting what you have.

My friend the rabbi told me this on the day I married. I find any time I am down on people or things, I start looking for things that I have that make me happy.

[JerryCarr]

How many times does this make that we've had this conversation on Punaweb? I've lost count. Some people like it here, and some people don't. So what?

Cheers,
Jerry

[David M]

Very true, Jerry.
and why is it the negative ones like one more try to... ah never mind, just be happy.

David

Ninole Resident

[Rob L]

Hi Anagami,

Just out of curiosity, what place is free of all those annoyances?

I suspect that the Buddha would say that all things are empty of inherent meaning, including dreadlocks and Puna.


Aloha,
Rob L

[Nate SC]

As far as "white kids" go, my former neighbor(Agora Hills) is an airline pilot and his wife ran a marketing company from home. Very nice people all around and they made decent money. Their kids are "fugged up" though(white). The son is serving "juevenile life" in a state facility because he started a barn fire and killed a friend of his at 16. He gets released at age 25. I'm sure he is a future serial killer in training. The youngest daughter is 15 and she is "preggers" from her 22 year old "man", who I'm confident is a "crip" due to his love of the color blue, his love of wearing of blue bandanas cowboy style over his face and his nicely restored 63 Chevy Impala with a gold placard in the shape of the number "13" in the rear window. He also openly bandishes firearms at whim. He wanted to "show" me his "new" Glock one day as I was washing my car in the driveway, lovely. The midle girl dresses daily like she just jumped off stage from a production of "Rocky horror picture show" and now she's a "porn producer". Basically, she just films all her freaky little friends having sex and sells them on the web. These kids had everything they ever wanted but still they are messed up.
Now let me tell you about "Melissa". Melissa lives next door to us now in the "City". Melissa's mom(asian) had her at about age 17 from a guy(white) she met working at Target. The "dad" was a loser who did jail time for drugs but he came from a "Great" family that lived in Simi Valley. Saying that in LA is supposed to mean something to some people. Melissa's mom dumped her off onto the Grandmother who doesn't speak English to raise while the "mom" got her life together. Mom did eventually get her life together and met a decent guy(Mexican) that she married and had four more kids with. Melissa never got to be the "baby", she never had her parents at all of her "special life events", she never got the advice, she never got the support or guidence of a Mother. Melissa has all the excuses to explain away having a crappy ass life. Melissa raised herself, one burned pot of macaroni and cheese at a time. Melissa grew strong,one bleached out faded washer load of jeans at a time. Melissa,s "Mom" wasn't dead..she just didn't want Melissa anymore. Melissa's mom just went on to live another life without her. ocassionally popping in to exert her "Momness' on Mellissa or pass her $10. Still with all that mellissa picked herself up from that. She marched forward thru all of that and never gave up, never quit. She's plugging her way through school right now and is going to finish her undergrad this spring. She is going to make it, Mellissa is going to beat the odds.
When you just don't have it in you, you quit. Some people just adapt better than others. Some people just look for excuses why things might not be working out. Some people just don't quit. Some people make the best of things and control the things that directly impact them. Some people you just have to ignore, or look at, laugh and say.."look at that dumb ass carrying a case of beer on the side of the road. I hope he drops it".
Puna is my "end-game". I'm not gonna squeak out a living being there now. That doesn't make sense to me or to any other sane person. I can wait 15 to 20 years, But can you imagine the work i can do on a lot in 15 years ?
I wish you luck on your journey and i hope that you are strong, not just strong, Mellissa strong.

[wyatt]

Anagami I wish for you "to go forth"
Find your healthy place.
Thanks for provoking us to take the time to reflect on what we all find precious here.
Love of Hawaii is unexplainable.

Wyatt