R.E.S.P.E.C.T. , find out what it means to me...

sunday brought frustration. therefore, sunday, brought the beach. i love hawaii. i can escape to a place of leisure without driving more than 40 miles at most. traffic is miserable, but hey, the distance is short. we'll focus on that point, it makes me happy.

a beach is a simple thing. you pack drinks, snacks and lay it all on ice in the cooler. a rather cheap day, no fancy meals to purchase, no long waits for service. and its all sun and games once you arrive. gone are the looks of boredom, gone are the pleas for excitement. all of that is captured in the sand and the waves. i love the beach.

ko'olina was closed so we drove a bit further down the road. nanakuli, yay, that will work. beautiful place, fun beach. i have given up on finding the "safest" beaches since they all seem to hold their own villains, this one looked good enough for the day. we settled in an quickly went to boogie boarding, sun tanning and castle building. the entire day passed like this, it was wonderful. i even took magnificent record of the day via my cannon. gorgeous.

days later i spoke to a friend. the jaw dropped, eyes bulged and out came the incredulous voice. "you went to nanakuli ?!" yes. why is this a frequent response to the beaches we visit? i am starting to notice a trend here. is no beach safe from exclamations such as these? i wonder... i found out then that a tourist was actually killed at nanakuli. why? because of a picture. they took a picture of the homeless population inhabiting the beach. whether it was at my specific location doesn't seem to stop my friends speculation (the nanakuli beach is a couple of miles long...) so i sit, stunned, trying to take all of this in. questioning myself and my own sanity for ever taking my kids to the beach...

this story, while sad for the tourist, makes me respond with my own incredulity. do they not know that this is, albeit not their first choice, a home for some? did they not feel like paparatizi taking advantage of the situation so as to share some gritty details with their friends? i wonder what they thought it would feel like for the homeless individual to be memorialized as "wow, look at those homeless people" in this "rich tourist's" eyes. some people just do not think. and as sad as death is, we need to remember that respect is for all walks of life, whether misunderstood or maybe even unjustified, it is even for the homeless.

so we'll continue to beach hunt. some places may not be safe whether you want them to be or not, but one of the first things in my beach kit is a respect of person and property. i will not die by my camera, i am not that insensitive. but maybe we'll hit up ko'olina on a slow day next time...