"There's always room for a story that can transport people to another place."J.K. Rowling
I always
try to make sure I can describe to you guys my experiences and tell you the
best story possible. While sometimes that can seem challenging, other moments are
simply perfect for storytelling.
A few
weeks ago, Emily, her family, and myself went on vacation to Hawaii. The two of
us flew to Honolulu and then Lihue on Kauai. Never in my life have I spent such
a fulfilling week. Imagine an island where two hours of driving can take you
from one end to the other via one single road. With a wet and green North Shore
to a dry and red Canyon, Kauai to me is single-handedly one of the best places
on Earth.
What an amazing week it was, day after, day, being able to head to
the beach and swim with sea turtles and tropical fish, hike ankle-rolling hours
in the heat and mud to experience one of the most intense waterfalls onto my
skin, and simply watch the contrasting turquoise water hit the black volcanic
rocks that outline this perfect little piece of land in the middle of the
largest ocean on this planet.
I wake up every morning thankful for the life I’ve been living,
especially those days where I’m starting a new day in a complete different part
of the world. I was brought up on the idea that I should always treat others the
way I’d want to be treated and when it comes to it, I believe I’ve been
somewhat successful at it, but not perfect. On the 4th day, we drove down to Lihue from
Princeville to surf Kalapaki beach with one of Emily’s friends. If you don’t
know that beach, it’s a chill, but reefy surf spot near the airport. Being the
careless human that I can be, I paddled out to the lineup with my best Gopro
and a simple head strap. Now please understand that I take really good care of
my equipment, but in this situation, I was so stoked on life being able to surf
in Kauai that I got a little imprudent. Third wave in, while pulling back to
return to the lineup, whitewash hit my head and just like that, my camera was
gone… What do you do in those circumstances? Do you spend the rest of your
enjoyable day looking through an unknown reef covered in sea urchins for what
are technically assembled pieces of plastic? Or do you just enjoy life as it
is? As a non-materialistic person, I chose to enjoy the rest of my session; and
it was definitely worth it. Of course I spent about an hour after looking
around with goggles for the little action camera, but instead I only could find
large beautiful fish. As we were sitting there, Nik, Emily’s friend, was
asking me how I wasn’t upset and why it seemed like I didn’t care, so I told
him this:
“I’ve been super lucky since I got my first camera that I haven’t had any problems or losses, and that it was just a camera, nothing more. Just a tool.”
So that day ended with myself and I talking about how I would
return a found camera if I were put in that situation and wouldn’t it be
awesome if someone did the same for me. But I also realized that the ocean is a
big place and some things just cannot be found. With hope, I still posted on
the “lost &found” Kauai craigslist.
Let’s take this a week later. I’m lying in bed watching Netflix
with Emily and happened to look at my emails while all of a sudden I see that I
received a new anonymous comment on my last blog post. So I read it and it said
the following:
My heart sunk in the best way possible. I had given up on
ever seeing that little camera again, and now I was given a new opportunity to
do so. I immediately called Joe and just told him my story. He was the nicest
guy and told me how he had found it with a tone that let me know it was my
camera. I asked him if it was truly mine by saying it was attached to a head
strap, and he answered “Yup that’s it! Wait, I was supposed to ask you to describe
it at the beginning of the conversation ha-ha-ha!” We continued to talk and
converse about Hawaii for a few minutes until we parted ways.
The fact that a random man, on vacation with his family, found a
lost GoPro in the rocks and took it home to find who’s it was, then took a
screenshot of my face, found my name on the camera’s wifi, looked up my social
media, read my Twitter, Instagram, blog to make sure it was mine, and to leave
a comment on my page to let me know he had found it is beyond incredible. It’s
incredible because of the work he put in to find me, but it is particularly
inspiring in a time where so much negativity is among us. Joe did not hesitate
to help out a complete stranger and a small act of compassion such as this one
goes a very long way.
So Joe, on behalf of my family and I, we present you the Human of
the Month Award.
You’re a legend!
Much love.
Way to go Joe. You experienced a wonderful vacation, most important human kindness was given. Joe went above and beyond to return your camera. Gives us all hope.
ReplyDeleteThanks! It was an amazing experience.
ReplyDelete