It's funny looking back in time, either through photographs or video/audio recordings, seeing/hearing yourself how you thought you were and thinking how much you've changed or how much you've reinforced your beliefs to become even more the person you wanted to be.
Rewind 10 years...
...delirious from rushing endorphins coursing through my system as once again traditional tatau bit hard into soft flesh, I remember being interviewed for this documentary, Savage Symbols.
Spouting random, sometimes incoherent stuff then wondering afterwards how much of a dick the editors will make me seem because of it, i needn't have worried. It is what it is and as is, it stands as a record of who i was and what i wanted to achieve in that time.
Now, as i embark on the next stage of discovery in knowing what it is to be a proud descendent of illustrious Pasifikan ancestors, to once again follow in their footsteps and sail in their wake and by it, know what it is they felt...
I am truly humbled...and scared as all hell :)
Many times in life, particularly with regard to family, we have to sacrifice a lot to achieve what may seem a little. The greater need of the many outweighs the wants of the few. If it means we have to suffer to achieve, then let us do so nobly, with humility and with pride in the achievements of those who have gone before, those who lived and died so that we may succeed. If we fail, we fail our ancestors and their lives were thus lived in vain.
I choose not to fail, and measure success by my own standards and the traditions and values of my ancestors. To them, the ocean was the way and the truth of a life that led closer to the creative spirit, the breath of which sustains us all.
The ocean, like the Tatau, can kill the unprepared and the unworthy, but it also gives life to those worthy and respectful of it's power. As the Tatau marks the beginning of a new life, a baptism of fire, so Te Mana o Te Moana is a baptism of water. One, a rite of passage, the other, a coming of age, the end of childhood dreams to start the discovery of life as a Man.
Ultimately if it doesn't kill me, it will make me stronger, and when we pass those lessons on to our kids, it makes them even stronger, more fit to survive and prosper.
We owe it to our kids to show them a life worth living, a past worth preserving, a future worth dying for...Don't ya think ?
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