see that hawaiian holding the stand up paddle showing the tourists how to stand up paddle? that guys name is calvin ka’awa. calvin is a true hawaiian with a big heart. this day was a couple of days before i left to japan in spring. i bumped into calvin at the beach. we started talking story. calvin spent almost 2 months in chile helping the relief for the deadly earthquake victims. he told me how much more he appreciated his life, and the island of hawaii as soon as his plane landed at honolulu airport. in chile, he saw some pretty heavy things he hasn’t seen in his lifetime. it was funny how we both agreed how the kids in hawaii and other developed countries are so spoiled these days. actually, it’s not that funny, but we were laughing about it…
anyway, i asked calvin what he was doing at waikiki on that beautiful day. he said that he just got back from chile the day before, so he took his family to the beach. he just stopped by to borrow a board from tony. he said he was happy to be home with his family….
then… these 2 tourist walk by asking for a lesson on a stand up paddle board. calvin looked around and none of the instructors where there. without even thinking for a second, he said “come here, i’ll teach you.” he had the biggest smile on his face and showed the tourists the aloha spirit. i sat there thinking to myself “wow, calvin didn’t see his family for soooo long, he finally gets a family day but still decides to work in the hot sun while his family waits on the side. would have i done it? honestly? probably not. would i do it now? yes. i learned something from calvin that day. i learned that we shouldn’t take things for granted, i learned that we live in paradise and should appreciate everything about it, and i learned that it’s our duty to spread the aloha spirit to every single tourist that visits our islands. i already respected calvin a lot to begin with, and after seeing what i saw that day, i respect him a lot more. that’s why is say calvin ka’awa is a true hawaiian.”
