A Welcomed Global Shaka Time Out
Author’s Note: This is a powerful excerpt from Steve Sue during the interview with Ecology Prime™ for the feature story, Aloha ʻĀina | “Love of the Land”: The Spirit within the Shaka. I feel this message stands beyond the story itself. It is an ideal, if not familial, message for all cultures that all can appreciate at its face value. Sometimes, the simplest things can move mountains. — Eric McLamb
A Welcomed Global Shaka Timeout
Excerpt from the Shaka Interview
with Steve Sue
Executive Producer
Shaka, The Power of Aloha
Steve Sue:
“In this very divisive climate of civility and politics, everybody kind of needs to take a chill pill… our culture is very spoiled, and people are not listening very well to each other. They quickly assume the worst about each other. That’s the whole problem with current media and social media where people tend to watch their own propaganda so that becomes their universe.
“The idea of the Shaka is almost like a timeout… like timeout, go to your corner and don’t say anything. Don’t spew that hate, don’t spew the propaganda, try to have a more positive outlook and don’t be so quick to vilify others… and believe in the best in people, not the worst.
“That is part of the Aloha spirit. ‘It’s hard to eke out a living in paradise.‘ Somehow [despite the enormous challenges of making a living] we are all able to get along by going along. We all survive by cooperation. Much of the world, particularly in the United States, is so heavy in individualism and that may prove to be a charade.
“It’s a phenomenon that we are having to question, ‘Is this good for the Planet?’ The US consumes the vast majority of products, yet it is the minority of the population. Is that sustainable?
“What is truly right for the globe really should be the focus of attention. If everybody had more of this communal outlook and cooperative outlook, I think we would get further as a global culture.”
– Steve Sue, from The Spirit within the Shaka interview with Ecology Prime™.
About Steve Sue
Steve Sue, a resident of Oahu, Hawaii, is a social venturer, primarily as a partner at SaaS Ventures, a software development firm, and as the Chairman of Bizgenics Foundation, a Hawaii-based non-profit firm that specializes in creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship programs. His career includes 25 years as a story expert, conceptualist and startup guy in entertainment, hospitality, food service, retail, product and software development. Steve holds a Bachelor’s degree (B.A.) in design from UCLA and a Doctor of Law (J.D.) degree from UC Berkeley. He is executive producer of a new documentary film about the Shaka titled, Shaka, The Power of Aloha, scheduled to premiere in 2023.
Related Features…
◙ Aloha ʻĀina | “Love of the Land”: The Spirit within the Shaka
◙ Puerto Rico: The Ageless Ecological Adaptation of an Hispanic People
◙ A Letter from the Virus, by Darinka Montico
◙ The Future of Sustainability and COVID-19: What Comes Next for Society?