State motto...

[burnt_bean]

"Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono"
The life(sovereignty) of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.

What does this mean to you as an individual?

I'm thinking back and reading a lot of Hawaiian history, and having trouble seeing how modern people can relate to this. What I mean is, in the motto, is it referring to righteous behavior as following the law(such as the kapu system in the old days) or does it mean that righteousness is in caring for the aina?

[kimo55]

Re: State motto...

"Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono"
The life(sovereignty) of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.
What does this mean to you as an individual?

in the motto, is it referring to righteous behavior as following the law(such as the kapu system in the old days) or does it mean that righteousness is in caring for the aina?

It meant something a while ago, but leave it to some people to abort its meaning and intent. (excuse how i will help you understand while veering wildly off on a tangent)

revisionist history indeed...

Following the restoration of the Hawaiian Sovereign Kingdom after a short-lived British takeover of the Hawaiian islands, on July 31, 1843, at a ceremony held at the Kawaiahao Church, King Kamehameha III spoke the words, "Ua Mau Ke Ea O Ka Aina I Ka Pono"; The sovereignty of the land is preserved in Justice."

Linda Lingle, following the foreigner's tradition of appropriating things Hawaiian and using it for one's own ends, uses these revered words in her campaign booklet, trivializes them, claiming they actually mean "... trust and integrity is lacking in Hawaii, so let's get rid of the corrupt politicians, and who better than me to take their place?"

The booklet claims the motto means to restore trust in American government, but of course it was a commemoration and celebration of the restoration of the Hawaiian Sovereign "Government."

How ironic; The State Motto celebrated a moment of reinforcing and celebrating the independence and sovereignty of the Hawaiian Kingdom, now it's the "state" (of America) motto, and now, a politician wallowing in the very muck of the kind of government and system Kamehameha tried to protect the islands from, is appropriating his words for her own ends.

Is there no respect towards History? Have we no regard towards the intellectual property of a culture?

As this is seen at the outset of the booklet, everything following is suspect. Additionally, upon seeing Cayetano going over her "plan," she cries foul, and runs to the "ethics commission."

What a mess; That this reprehensible situation even exists and that this system requires a group to commission (to designate, instruct, order) ethics.

And one wonders why there's such low voter turnout.

[MadAzza]

Re: State motto...

"Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono"
The life(sovereignty) of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.

What does this mean to you as an individual?

Why did you write, "the life (sovereignty) ..."? By injecting your own interpretation, you are telling the reader what to think, rather than asking.

[newroots]

Re: State motto...

TELL EM KIMO!! tell em

[burnt_bean]

Re: State motto...

Why did you write, "the life (sovereignty) ..."? By injecting your own interpretation, you are telling the reader what to think, rather than asking.

I just copied and pasted from another site... that's what they threw in their. I dunno... it just seemed a litte more "in depth", let me go back and put in a question mark to make it seem more of a question. Perhaps you will be satisfied then?

[MadAzza]

Re: State motto...

I just copied and pasted from another site... that's what they threw in their. I dunno... it just seemed a litte more "in depth", let me go back and put in a question mark to make it seem more of a question. Perhaps you will be satisfied then?

I'd rather we saw just the motto with no editorializing.

[anapuni808]

Re: State motto...

In the Pukui-Elbert dictionary, the word "ea" has many uses but the first definition as a noun, is sovereignty, rule, independence and there is a holiday in November called "La Ho`i Ho`i Ea", Restoration Day. You can also look at the phrase, "Ho`i ho`i i ke ea o Hawai`i", restore the sovereignty of Hawai`i.

In 1843, Kauikeaouli (Kamehameha III) uttered the phrase being discussed on the steps of Kawaiahao Church, having marched there from what is now known as Thomas Square. This was on the day the the Kingdom was restored to its Independence or Sovereignty by Admiral Thomas of Great Britain. Treaties had just been signed with Britain & France which recognized the independent nation status of Hawai`i. The U.S. also signed onto this same treaty - and we all know how much they respect treaties.

Interpreting the phrase by using the above definition is quite correct and is in keeping with the reason the words were spoken in the first place.

Fran

[burnt_bean]

Re: State motto...

I'd rather we saw just the motto with no editorializing.

just get over it.

Thanks everybody for the info! Kinda opened my eyes to a lot of important subject matter.

[MadAzza]

Re: State motto...

just get over it.

Huh? Get over what?

You asked me a question; I answered it. I don't see any reason for you to be rude.

[Menehune Man]

Re: State motto...

"Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono"
The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.

What does this mean to you as an individual?

To me I believe it means everything from "The Government" being non-corrupt, to community groups/Churches doing the right things with their resources, to families taking proper care of eachother, to everyone picking up whatever opala they've created. If these things were done... then the life of the land would be perpetuated. Because otherwise it all deteriorates into a big, corrupt, selfish, broken-family pile of trash.

[Pua'i Mana'o]

Re: State motto...

"Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono"
The life(sovereignty) of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.

What does this mean to you as an individual?

I'm thinking back and reading a lot of Hawaiian history, and having trouble seeing how modern people can relate to this. What I mean is, in the motto, is it referring to righteous behavior as following the law(such as the kapu system in the old days) or does it mean that righteousness is in caring for the aina?

As a modern person I find comfort in it and read it more as a proverb, a testament to our heritage and culture, than a motto. It says to me that Hawai'i will thrive through goodness. Regardless of things like governments (which are cyclical anyway, and no generation or group of leaders is more ignoble/less corrupt than another, ethnicity and such particulars aside).

So what IS that goodness?

-that we recognize we live on small islands, with finite resources
-take care of those resources, including policies (like businesses that recycle), practices (never ever littering) and legislation (yay HI 5¢)
-remember that we cannot "run away" from our problems here; we live on an island, and we shouldn't go round and round in too many circles before we realize that we must face our music and live responsibly and ethically
-practice tolerance towards our malihini who both move or just visit here, exhibit aloha and ho'omanawanui for our kupuna and our keiki and mahalo each other.

Therein lies the ea of this aina, when we stick to being pono.

[stashu117]

Re: State motto...

I'd rather we saw just the motto with no editorializing.

Then that would be: "Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono"

Any translation has editorializing/interpretation or whatever you'd like to call it. For instance if the motto was "people are bad" what does that mean? In 1900 it probably means people are bad however, today is bad good or bad bad. Ciao

[craigwatanabe]

Re: State motto...

To me the "life" of any land would include any spiritual connection to that place, not necessarily the actual dirt but significance of what that place means and the "life" for which that land has become.

From a Palani Vaughn song that he wrote and sang many years ago:

Be proud O' Hawaii's people of your homeland, preserve forever the ways of your ancestors, seek knowledge young people of hawaii and with the help of the Lord, the light of knowledge will be yours forever. But don't forget your heritage...keep the traditions, cherish with pride and look admirable upon your ancestors...yours is an ancient race, it is a proud race therefore keep the traditions while you look to progress

It was a fitting song that concluded a tape recording of the Ron Jacobs show on June 11, 1977 (Kamehameha Day) that is now buried in a time capsule 18-inches underground next to a rock fountain/ monument that was part of a lily pond near the bandstand on the grounds of Kapiolani Park in Honolulu. Ron Jacob's producer Keala Kai translated the words as noted above and the show's production assistant Steve Kumori made the tapes. A bronze plaque sits over the cement cap to commemorate that date. The time capsule is slated to be unearthed on June 11th, 2077, exactly one hundred years from the date of burial. In other words 71-years from now.

I don't know why but back then I recorded the last segment of the RJ show along with the beginning of the Lane Robinson show (he subbed for Kamasami Kong that day) on cassette and have since dubbed it as an MP3. I figured the 1/4" reel to reel tapes that were buried won't last a hundred years so I recorded what I could and have kept this copy in safe storage since 1977 taking it out only once for MP3 duplication when the technology became available.