Yesterday, in the late afternoon, my daughter and I went by the sign waving event that supporters of the Mauna Kea Comprehensive Management Plan (CMP) held near the Kamehameha statue at the Hilo Bayfront.

It was an impressive turnout – around 130 people when we got there, I think, many wearing their black “E Malama Mauna Kea” t-shirts. When I looked around I saw business people, labor union folk, scientists that work on Mauna Kea and Hawaiians. What they all have in common is an interest in seeing Mauna Kea taken care of and protected for the future.

Big Island Video News took this video of the sign waving.

It’s a big deal, this CMP that is being decided on right now, and will have a huge impact. I like that when she’s older I’ll be able to remind my 5-year-old that she was there when people got involved and worked together to take care of something as important as Mauna Kea.

While we were there I also told her about how that big grassy area we were standing on used to have lots of houses until they were destroyed by a tsunami. I showed her the big mango tree near the Wailoa Center that marks approximately where her great-great-great-great-grandfather Nalimu’s family lived during the second half of the 1800s and well into the 1900s, too. Maybe someday she will stand there with her own child and point out that same history to the next generation.

And now she’ll be able to tell that future child that in 2009 the same ‘aina was also the site of an important demonstration that marked a turning point for how we take care of our Mauna Kea.

We seem to be returning to an era of renewed respect and consideration of Mauna Kea. The ones who came before us would approve.