The Island of Maui/HI is still a place where the spirit of ALOHA is felt. The word “Aloha” has many meanings. In short, it is a way of life, it is an attitude of lovingly caring and sharing, joyfully sharing life. Living more from the heart and less from the mind.
There are some on this island who show this Aloha spirit in very special ways. You cannot but stop, watch and think about them. I decided to approach one such person who impressed me the most. I wanted to know more about his life and what motivated him to walk 5 to 10 miles each day with a white cross on his shoulder, waving kisses at everyone that he passed, whether in a car or on foot.
One day while driving home I saw him walking down the road.
“This is my chance,” I thought. “Nobody else is around. We can have an undisturbed talk,” I figured. I parked my car along the street and walked up to greet him. Two friendly eyes met mine and so it was easy to start a conversation.
His name is Joseph. He lives in Paia, the same town I live in when I am on Maui. Therefore, I see him almost every day. He is a short man with gray hair. His hair is combed back and falls straight down, barely touching his neck. His ears, whose earlobes are long and grown to the skin, are hardly seen because they are covered up by his hair. His white beard is thinning and a little tousled. Joseph wears the typical Maui outfit, T-shirt, shorts and flippers, the Hawaiian expression for flip-flops. It is hard to guess his age.
“I will be 72 in May,” he freely admits. Joseph’s skin looks like leather, tanned and dark. “I am half Philippino and half Puerto Rican with a touch of native American,” he laughs. “I was born and raised here on Maui,” pointing out the area where he grew up, not far from where he lives now with his daughter who takes care of him. It is actually the same neighborhood I live. He then reveals to me that he worked for the county. Now retired, he lives off his pension. Since 1981 he walks the streets up and down with one of his three crosses of different sizes and materials. When he was still working he walked in his spare time. Since retired, all he does is walk.
Today, Joseph, “Uncle Joe” to some, carries the smallest of his three white crosses. This one is made of wood, maybe 45 cm (1 ½ ft.) tall. It says “Jesus” on it. Also on his forehead, I can read “Jesus” written in small black letters. “You know,” he lets me know, “as a child I already heard Jesus talk to me. He told me to do this. He also warned me that there would be people that made fun of me or were hostile. But most are friendly. And you know,” he continued, jumping around making kicking gestures, “when I was stationed in Germany with the military I took up boxing.” We both laughed. This man had a lot of spark. Somehow this surprised me. He became serious again and said,
“Jesus takes away all our sins. He loves us so much, you must know. He always forgives us, no matter what. We must try to live a good life, but he always forgives us. He forgives endlessly. When he died on the cross, he did it for us.” Now Joseph’s eyes were looking upwards and a shining glow was around them as he talked to me, ”We will not really die, Jesus still lives. Our spirits will also rise.” After a short pause he went on, “Of course our bodies stay here and will decay, but what we really are is not gonna die. Our spirits will rise. This is Jesus’s message.” All of sudden Joseph’s voice became very determined. “The politicians make such wrong laws. I am glad the new administration is trying to ban abortion. You know, no one has the right to kill the children of this world. Not even the parents of an unborn child. There is no right over life. This is what Jesus teaches us.” He continues with the same determined voice, yet not fanatic, “also homosexual marriages should not be allowed. I don’t think this is right…” he paused and with a much softer voice he added, “but maybe their love is more genuine than others who have only passion. You know, there is a difference between love and passion. Jesus has the genuine love…” he shrugged and added, “well, Jesus had love and passion.” He paused and said, “Oh, I think I got a little carried away.” I smiled and thought with that I could close my interview. Joseph told me freely a lot more without asking.
But then, all of a sudden there was a question from him, “What did you say your name was?” “Corina”, I answered. Then, with a twinkle in his eye he started to sing, “Corina, Corina, Corina…” moving his body to the melody. “When you first told me your name I thought already of this song. Smiling at me broadly he said, “You know I grew up in the sixties…” I laughed back. Then I thanked him, saying, “I just wanted to thank you for what you are doing and letting you know, that there are people around who love you!” I could tell he appreciated my words. Our eyes met again. In this moment a deep compassion and love flew through me and for a moment I felt we were one. Then we both went on, doing our business…