White clouds, white birds, blue lining of the horizon sitting on the sea, and a smile from the sun. 

Birds they fly over trees, stand on branches, and then to fly up to soar with other birds, that come out of nowhere as the eyes of humans are limited to a scope. My favorite, are white, and light in the wind when they sway with it. 

Behind them, an island called Nu’utele, lays small because it is farther away, and the horizon further still, lurks like a canoe of war warriors is awaited. 

On that canoe, I hope the answers of modern confusion are in a basket of stone adzes and woven crafts, so that we too can be honored as legends and myths of ancient days. You know, the kind of legend,  that puts children to sleep when an old lady with a husky voice sits up to tell of better days before. 

But the canoe, if it arrives today, will have a mild time looking for a working wharf on the south side to anchor, and by that I mean, they would have to adjust the stars to go around the island to find mooring. Then the Apia class of workers and excuse me for saying, hoteliers, would really need to tidy up the front of the beach, because war warriors do not have patience for unprepared hosts. I mean, the plastic bags, and baby diapers in the ocean need a bit of work, no? 

Then there is the fact that the pot holes along the roads on both sides of the island are beginning to tease us when the rain stops and starts again. If it is not a pig’s ears flapping from some of those pot holes, then I guess they are just bigger holes. Maybe it is Sunday, and I am thinking of the Size 2 apparel for lunch. 

Forget a little bit the notion that we are to be visited by war warriors, but imagine the root of the cause of masculinity being upside down in our paradise existence. It seems we have  very skewed understanding of masculinity, considering domestic violence and well, all other types of bullying. But if the boy is always stuck to his village, then is it the village that needs to be uprooted to combat the misrepresentation of masculinity?

For how far does a child go to prove he is reliable only to find that he has no opportunity for a job, let alone a good sense of education, a skill set in the money economy? Will his idleness be the result of boredom, lack of attention, loss and loneliness in the fast world of progress? Aren’t men the providers in our definitive norms of a society?

What if the war warriors, had left behind clues that masculinity is not just about the weapons you can make, but how you can use them to hone in masculine behavior, like, tactic, diplomacy, respect, silence, wisdom, a sense of smell and a sense of observation for all things, not just a woman’s toe nails and a man’s satisfaction of his own ego? 

What if it was nationally realized, that masculinity is about being honorable of all creations, not just a prize to earn at the end of the day to say one is a real man because he won an argument in a debate or worse, a club brawl, with another man? There is an eloquence lost in translation when it comes to our paradise’s confusion of masculinity. By golly, how do we have orators if not the case?

What if the core of masculinity lies in the ability to consult for progress so that openness to others is key, for well being, for deep connection amongst people and nature, for enhancing the minds of citizens of paradise or of any country, to become better moral beings? 

But there is a deeper problem if you ask me, of masculinity and a display of male power anywhere I look, near and far. 

The world is ever evolving and none of it is perfect. So if one is masculine and not broken, not vulnerable, not open to faults, then by all means accept that that person is not human either but a figment of our faulty imagination as far as masculinity and real men goes.