Hawaii ... and colonization?

HAWAII

OK, so it's been awhile since I last posted. I'm already a bad blogger. Meanwhile I've had several ideas for posts, but thought it best to begin with where I am now: Maui, Hawaii.

This is the view I wake up to every morning ... actually, it's more like the view that wakes me up every morning. I share the pull-out bed in the living room with my little sister; we're both awake by 6:30 a.m. either because of the bright Hawaii sunshine, loud Hawaiin waves, or my morning-people family. Gotta love family.

Yesterday we had stopped at a local surf spot and on the back of one car was this sticker: "Welcome to Hawaii, now go home!"

This seems to be a pretty common sentiment among Hawaiians. And I'm starting to think it's for good reason.

Being in Hawaii has made be think a lot about colonization. I haven't done any research and I don't know the history, but this is what I've gathered from observation and conversation: The Polynesians found and settled the Hawaiian Islands and then the Americans took over and overthrough all the Hawaiian kings.

I'm ashamed.

Call me naive, but I thought the only countries who did that crap were countries like the U.K.

Why do we take stuff that doesn't belong to us?

I guess this isn't just a problem between roommates sharing a refrigerator ... countries do it to each other too. I guess sometimes there are lots of benefits, but there's always a cost.