Honor hard work ... physical or cerebral
By Ka'ohua Lucas
"Mom, this is hard work," my 10-year-old lamented, scraping the husk from the kalo (taro).
Our 'ohana was in the process of peeling the skin off the corm to make poi. We had 15 pounds of kalo that was to be ground into the purple starch.
My boys were hunched over a large pakini, or pan of water, where the kalo soaked.
"Now you can appreciate what your kupuna (ancestors) had to go through, yeah?" I said. "Just imagine. Everyday toiling in the hot sun to plant huli (taro shoot) and harvest kalo."
I looked off into the distance, butter knife poised over the kalo corm.
"Just imagine — tending your fields everyday, day in and day out, just imagine!"
I was interrupted.
"Yeah, yeah, Mom," my eldest grunted. "We get the picture."
In Mary Kawena Pukui's book "'Olelo No'eau: Hawaiian Proverbs and Poetical Sayings," she offers an expression that describes a person who is a hard worker: Na ke kanaka mahi'ai ka imu 'nui.
The well-filled imu belongs to the man who tills the soil.
My husband is not a farmer, although at times I think he would prefer it.
He leaves early in the morning and arrives home well after dark, sometimes putting in 12-14 hour workdays.
His job does not require him to use an o'o, or digging stick, or his hands to malama (care for) the earth. But it does require a different kind of labor intensity. It's called cerebral.
My husband rounded the corner just in enough time to hear my final comments.
He sat down next to us to help remove the skin from the kalo.
"Listen, babe," he said. "Those who think a desk job is cushy, they have not experienced the uncalloused elbow, rubbing against the arm of a comfy chair."
"I'm sure they haven't," I said with a grin.
"Those of us who sit behind a desk all day engage in minimal physical exercise," he said. "In fact, as a result of inactivity, I believe I tore my rotator cuff, clicking the television channel changer once too often."
The boys chuckled.
As our 'ohana continued to scrape the husk from the kalo, I thought about our discussion.
For the kalo farmer, it took a great deal of planning to open a taro field. He had to consider the terrain of the land, his water supply source and the impact his lo'i would have on others within the ahupua'a.
The kalo farmer's agricultural system was (and is today) extremely complex and highly sophisticated, requiring a great deal of thoughtful, careful planning.
"If you were given the opportunity to become a farmer, would you?" I asked.
My husband hoisted the pakini onto his shoulders, turned to me and said, "As a wise man once said, the only things worth honoring are those things that come from love, labor and the land."
Reach Ka'ohua Lucas at Family Matters, 'Ohana section, The Advertiser, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802; fax 525-8055; or at ohana@honoluluadvertiser.com.
