{"id":27057,"date":"2023-02-15t06:59:54","date_gmt":"2023-02-15t06:59:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dev.planetforward.com\/2023\/02\/15\/essay-learning-about-trust-for-every-beings-benefit\/"},"modified":"2023-02-22t01:47:47","modified_gmt":"2023-02-22t01:47:47","slug":"trust-community-planet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/trust-community-planet\/","title":{"rendered":"essay | learning about trust for every being’s benefit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
my parents grew up in a place that didn\u2019t want them or anyone that looked like them. they were raised by parents who contended with that hypervisibility daily. everyone looked for opportunity, finding some while also finding lots of hurt. my grandparents grew up with little money \u2013 farming, fleeing from political conflict, crossing oceans, hoping for safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
i grew up embodying these legacies, learning to take as much of what\u2019s given because you never know when the safety around you will crumble away. to watch out for myself and my people and always be aware. to be skeptical and cautious and prepare for the worst. while i believe that people are intrinsically good, i also carry practices of not trusting those around me. these lessons are rooted in experience, resulting in constant precautions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
my family home has weathered break-ins and my father\u2019s car was recently stolen a few streets from our home. i\u2019ve been harangued on the street for seemingly no reason (was it because of who i am? what i look like?), questioned about where i or my family are from or what my \u201cheritage\u201d is seemingly a billion times, made to feel small and incompetent simply because i didn\u2019t look like anyone else present or like anyone who had been present before. in the name of protection, i was raised with a scarcity mindset, as well as my forebears’ belief in the american dream. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
this past fall, i had the incredible opportunity and privilege to study in the south pacific. one of the professors, josiane, is a tahitian ethnohistorian, teacher, author, botanist, linguist, and wonderfully kind person. in discussing culture and community in the french polynesian islands, she said, \u201cyou can\u2019t trust someone who doesn\u2019t trust anyone.\u201d other similar maxims exist \u2013 trust people and they will become trustworthy. over the last few years away from home, i\u2019ve learned about more worlds than the childhood worldview i grew up with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
i\u2019ve worked hard to assume the best intentions and motivations, love all people, have empathy, and be generous with second, or more, chances. but in the rigid, individualistic cultures prevalent in the u.s., i’ve struggled with the balance of giving the benefit of the doubt while also still remaining safe. spending time in french polynesia, i was exposed to a different, more trusting lifestyle. i began to understand how these community values can be one of the most important ways to tackle climate change. <\/p>\n\n\n
some of the highlights of my time in the south pacific were on huahine, where josiane lives. huahine is known for its strong womxn, pride, and self-sufficiency. people live intentionally, practicing culture and traditions as their ancestors did. most of our programming that week was focused on learning about life there, especially related to food, as well as connecting with josiane\u2019s home and friends. one whole day was spent with all of our professor\u2019s friends at a couple\u2019s, sofia and gus\u2019, home and garden. they live off the grid with solar power, big rainwater tanks, no doors, barely any walls to their house, a couple of sailing canoes for transportation, and composting toilets, buying minimally from the island\u2019s grocery store.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
my class spent the morning walking through the huge garden with sofia as she told us about many foods i had never even heard of, as well as how they like to grow. she passed on so much of her knowledge in a couple hours, replete with years of best practices, things she had learned from just trying\u2013planting seeds in every single place imaginable to see what conditions and companions each plant liked. the rest of the day was spent with all of josiane\u2019s friends preparing a huge meal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
from each we learned different skills, ideas, and values. together, we husked coconuts, cracked them open, shredded the meat, squeezed the shreds to make coconut milk, made bowls out of the coconut shells, made coconut pancakes with the meat and fresh cassava flour we ground, chopped up a beautiful fruit salad and greens salad, and made carpaccio with fish they had caught yesterday. i talked to one about jewelry and traditional polynesian craft. another showed me how to better husk coconuts. one heard us mentioning a fruit that we\u2019d never tried and shortly thereafter presented us with the fruit prepared in its juiced and fermented form. there was an air of abundance, of both time and joy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
all of the food, knowledge, and skills to prepare this feast came from the garden and people present. all were open, willing to teach and to answer our (silly) questions, and they moved with grace and gratitude in the time we spent together and the generosity of the earth. the lack of hesitation in welcoming a group of foreigners into their community, which had never before been done, the generosity with which they shared their knowledge, demonstrated clearly to me what living closely with the earth can look like, in reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
i had read and theorized and imagined and envisioned back in my ivory tower at school, but this was a genuine way of living that was joyful, fulfilling, and full of love. all of the friends knew nature\u2019s rhythm and showed their gratitude to her by living in relationship with every other being. and they all did this in community. although it was sofia and gus\u2019 home, all of the friends, and then us students, too, were so invited and so comfortable that we moved around their home with ease and care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
together, the friends, each offering their knowledge and skills, teach workshops to the surrounding polynesian community, not open to any tourists, of how to live close to the earth and use low-tech devices like sun-drying food racks and rocket stoves that use little wood. not only do sofia and gus exemplify a life with little harmful environmental impact, they also share that with many others, helping build and give to a community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
another memorable experience of kindness was on nuku hiva at the arboretum papua-keikaha. the arboretum aims to preserve native and culturally significant foods, while also helping provide food to the community as the island has been stricken with drought for many years after the introduction of palm trees for plantation farming by colonizers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n when we reached the citrus groves, the man giving us the tour picked a few different pampelmousse (or, grapefruit) for our sampling. there were four different varieties that we were able to try and after our murmurs of deliciousness, he started picking pampelmousse after pampelmousse, handing them to people and telling us to take them with us! we were overwhelmed with fruit; everyone had at least a couple in their hands. whatever backpacks people had brought with them were overflowing with fruit. he was incredibly giving, wanting to share his work and the food important to his people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n had the citrus not gone to us, it would’ve, along with the rest of the fruit produced at the arboretum, gone to local schools for lunch meals. but it wasn\u2019t a question of saving the juicy, ripe fruit for the schools, more of an assumption that there were visitors to this place and when they left they needed to take something with them\u2013a mark of the kindness and mindset of abundance in people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n building and extending generosity and trust in communities is an important way to address climate change. all of josiane\u2019s friends and the man at the arboretum showed me this explicitly. they produce their own food, take and emit little in terms of housing, transportation, or waste, and share what they know with others so more people can live with the land. in recognizing the earth and others\u2019 generosity, there is more gratitude, which can develop more responsible and intentional living. knowing that the breadfruit trees are abundant when they fruit and having gratitude for the amount of food the earth provides leads people to make sure they steward and care for those trees and do what they can to make sure they can keep reproducing year after year.<\/p>\n\n\nliving in rhythm with nature<\/h2>\n\n\n\n