You often don’t know what you don’t know. I mean, until you find out things in life sometimes, you didn’t even know such things existed. For example, have you ever heard of the Halifax Explosion? It happened 105-years ago in the deep-water harbor between Halifax and Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Look it up. An estimated 1,700 people were killed and more than 9,000 were injured. It was the biggest man-made blast in the history of the world, until atomic bombs were dropped on Japan in WWII.
I found this amazing story while visiting Halifax to see, in part, the biggest tidal changes in the world at the Bay of Fundy, where you can walk on the ocean floor and not get wet at low tide, and come back later to see that the water level’s risen over 50-feet along the cliffs.
The point here is we simply don’t know about lots of stuff that might truly electrify or energize us when we do find out. That Maritime Museum also houses amazing Titanic paraphernalia as ship remnants, including deceased passengers’ belongings, were brought ashore from 700 nautical miles away. I’ve been hoping the Halifax Explosion story could be this decade’s “Titanic” movie blockbuster- but no takers yet.
Remember the child-like innocence and excitement we all had as kids when we witnessed things for the first time- a fireworks display, a huge sporting event, a zoo tiger, Santa Claus at the mall!?
Even as adults, the ideas of progress, development, and self-defined success can still make one feel invigorated, hopeful, and perhaps even starry-eyed. Heck, I still get excited when Journey and “Jersey Boys” come to the Blaisdell and when 21st century paving and speed bumps (inevitably) come to the Pali Highway.
I’m surprised at how often we maintain unyielding patience when so much is said and yet so little is done on many vital, local matters, at least in a timely fashion. We need more housing, social service funding, teachers, innovators, food self-sufficiency, doctors, economic options, and an alternate leeward access; we need less traffic, plastic, redundant committees, and bureaucratic deterrents. Post-COVID, same old same old isn’t gonna hack it here. We know that. Let’s seek solutions that work elsewhere- adopt and adapt adeptly. We may be isolated, but our issues are not necessarily unique. We know what we don’t know, or don’t do, so how about we do something(s)?
Think about it…