Hawaii is Happy

[Guest]

I spent my first night in Hawaii at Hookena Beach with my daughters about ten years ago. Divorced single dad. We arrived two hours off a plane in a rental car with some camping gear as the sun was going down. As I turned off the engine, an attractive Hawaiian woman wearing a flowered dress was sitting on a wall strumming a ukulele and quietly singing as the waves lapped the shore and the palms rustled in the breeze. Some men nearby were laughing, speaking Hawaiian and drinking beer. A few young people were walking around aimlessly, chatting and laughing. There was smoke from a small fire. A drunk was passed out sleeping peacefully against a tree. A dog trotted by, ignoring him. Some stray cats skulked in the bushes. There was a lava waterfall that had been marked as a religious kapu site. I had no idea what kapu meant. Was it a kind of coconut?

I felt that I had stumbled into a trap. I will never get out of here alive. Leave if you can. Run. Abandon everything. This place will never hold you less tightly and you will sink deeper and deeper. Into happiness.

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You can't fix Samsara.