Aloha means much more than hello and goodbye; it means a mutual regard and affection of one person for another without any expectation of something in return. This phrase also means love. Hamilton, along with her family, has experienced the true meaning of aloha first hand. Mike Wellman, who has made thousands of surfboards, made one with aloha for a fundraiser in her name. Also after the accident, many people stopped by the Hamilton's house to see if they needed help in anyway and made them dinner. A fundraiser in their honor raised $75,000 to help with expenses. Jill Smith organized the event, while Rip Curl dove right in to help. There was a silent auction, and many famous people came to help. Hamiltion's friends were all there wearing t-shirts to represent her. She wanted to attend,but since it was to soon after the attack, she couldn't. However she was so thankful for what everyone had done. Even though it was a little embarrassing to be a charity case, she was grateful and would do the same thing for someone else if the opportunity arose.
The aloha kindness did not only limit itself to just Hawaii. All over the world, people read magazines or news reports about Hamilton and were inspired to write letters or send checks and money donations to help the family. When the aloha was spread from the people of Kauai it was normal for we would have done it to anyone we knew as well, but to see all of these people from all over was shocking. Hamilton believed that this is happening because many people are generally caring; they heard about a girl with her arm bitten off and wanted to help.. An organization, Save our Seas, heard she wanted to take surf photos, so they offered to train her in video and still photography. She might take them up on their offer once her like settles down. She is taking things one day at a time. She is also making a scrapbook of all the articles she is in to look back on later.
Hamilton soon realized that her life would never be the same after the attack. She had to exit the back door to get away from interviewers waiting to shove microphones in her face. Her mom did not like this intrusion into their lives. In the end, the decision to tell the story of the attack was up to Hamilton. She did not really enjoy being in the spotlight, but if she could express how her faith in god has helped her thought it,she was willing. She did not want to make a soap opera of the attack. instead she wanted to tell God's story throughout the attack. Her first TV show was 20/20, and she had many interviews after, but they all seemed to ask the same questions which got pretty boring. One interview that stuck out for her was one with Joey Buran. He is a surfer and pastor in California ,and he really understood her. Most of the people don't know what to say because they can't really relate to her.
Hamilton has traveled places and been on many TV shows. She thinks it's very intimidating being on the set, but she also thinks its very interesting. She was not very impressed as she traveled to New York. Seeing the homeless people bothered her, as she wanted to help them all and knew she couldn't live there. The disadvantage of being on all these interviews is it takes up a lot of her time and cuts into her time of surfing. She constantly reminds he self that God has put her in this position to help people all over.There is a greater good here, so if she has to sacrifice a few interviews ,she is okay with that.
I have really enjoyed the reading. Hamilton is such an inspiration to me. She doesn't think of herself but instead thinks of everyone else. Even though she does not want to do these interviews, she does them because she knows God has put her in this position to help people, and she is so grateful to help others.She is so positive about everything and just lets God lead her in the right direction and help so many others. She scarifies for people she doesn't even know. I can relate to these chapters because our community like hers comes together to help someone in need. When my family's friend' new baby had a brain problem and needed to fly to Arizona for surgery,our whole community came together and helped this family. We had a fundraiser like Hamilton's community to raise money to help pay this family's bills. I look forward to continue my reading of this story and become more inspired by Hamilton's life and beliefs.
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