Good Lives On

A  L  O  H  A  !

" To find the universal elements enough;

to find the air and the water exhilarating;

 to be refreshed by a morning walk
or an evening saunter; 

to be thrilled by the stars at night;

 to be elated over a bird’s nest
or a wildflower in spring –

 these are some of the rewards
of the simple life. "

John Burroughs

Air Force One; President Aboard

" The ultimate measure of a man 

is not where he stands

in moments of comfort,
 but where he stands 

at times of challenge

and controversy. "

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Happy 175th Birthday King David Kalakaua
  Born on November 16, 1836

  "although darker than a mulatto,

he has an excellent English education

& in manners

is an accomplished gentleman"

 Samuel Clemens

(Mark Twain)

describing the King, in a letter to his mother and sister.

(Letters, Volume 1, p. 394). 

 Died in San Francisco 

on January 20, 1891.

 

 

 

“Tell my people I tried.”

  His final words

“ Love is a promise,

love is a souvenir,

once given never forgotten,

never let it disappear. "

 

John Lennon

Queen Kapiolani
Wife of Kalakaua, Queen Consort of the Hawaiian Isles
 Tenure 12 February 1874 - 20 January 1891


Born, Hilo  December 31, 1834
Died, Waikiki June 24 1899
(age 64)

   > < } } ( ° >

128 years ago this month,

on November 8, 1883,

six Sisters

of the Third Order of St. Francis

landed here in Honolulu.

The King & Queen welcomed them.

The sisters had come

to nurse the growing number

of isle patients

that were still called

'Lepers' in those days.

50 or more religious communities

  had been approached,

only these Sisters

from Syracuse New York

were willing to come.

Tears streaming down her face,

Queen Kapiolani spoke for herself,

 for King Kalakaua,

and for her people

when she said:

"You have left your home

to come to these far away islands

to care for my poor

afflicted children.

I shall never forget you,

and you are always my sisters. "

The Sisters' leader

Mother Marianne Cope

relieved Saint Damien on his death bed

and carried on leadership
of the quarantine community 

on Molokai's Kalaupapa peninsula 

for 27 years till her own death

in 1918.

The Sisters of Saint Francis

(and of the Queen)

are still serving these islands

through schools they founded.

The hospitals they launched 

and ran for years

are now privately operated. 

Perhaps the BEST novel I ever read,

 MOLOKAI

by Alan Brennert

will immerse you

in these times and places

that seem not that long ago

to us here in Hawaii.

My Review is HERE

Incidentally, 

the hospital where President Obama was born

here in Honolulu

is called

Kapiolani Medical Center

Long live the nobility of the human soul !

Thanks for bringing YOURS here

                                                                                              Warmly, cloudia