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Hawaii

The islands are in your stories. Keep them in your own voice.

Hawaii is a place of volcanoes, ocean and aloha, and you have your own way of telling what it is like to live here. Those stories, and the way you see things today, are a gift you can leave for the people you choose.

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Try it free for 7 days. Only you can see your record. Never public or searchable.

Who first showed you what aloha means, long before you ever read a definition of it?

Aloha is something you learn from people, not from a definition, and the same is true of a life. ToldForward lets you set down your own lessons a single question at a time, in your own voice and at your own pace. What you write stays private while you live, then passes only to the people you choose.

Only you can see your answers while you live.

Hawaii

Your Hawaii, in your own words

Land that is still taking shape

Few places let you watch the ground itself change. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park takes in the summits of Kīlauea and Mauna Loa, two of the most active volcanoes in the world, and at Haleakalā people wait in the dark at the summit to watch the sun come up. Perhaps you have stood in those places yourself. Perhaps your days are spent closer to the beach, the farm or the lunch counter. Either way, you know these islands in a way no guidebook can. What has the land taught you?

Aloha, written into law

Hawaii wrote the Aloha Spirit into its laws in 1986. The law calls it the coordination of mind and heart within each person, and says it was the working philosophy of Native Hawaiians, presented as a gift to the people of Hawaii. You probably understood aloha long before you ever read a definition. You might have learned it from a neighbor who showed up with food, from the way an aunty greeted you, or from a stranger who stopped to help. Small moments like those shape a whole life, and they deserve to be told clearly.

From territory to the 50th state

Hawaii became the 50th state on August 21, 1959. Some people still recall how that change felt, and many more grew up hearing about it around a kitchen table. Every generation here has lived through its own changes: new roads and buildings, new neighbors, familiar places that look different now. How you understand those changes is part of the story of these islands, and part of you. Your view matters because nobody else sees Hawaii from exactly where you stand.

How your record comes together

Gently, in your own time.

  1. A question to start

    Each one is written to bring back a real moment, not to test you.

  2. Your answer, dated

    Everything you write is kept as you wrote it, with the day you wrote it.

  3. Your people, chosen

    You name who receives it and when it can be read, within our waiting period.

Simple, and safe

  • Private by design

    Only you can see your answers. Nothing is shared while you live.

  • You stay the author

    No AI writes in your record. It holds what you said, and nothing else.

  • A waiting period

    At least 6 months pass after you are gone before anyone receives it.

  • Change anything, anytime

    Add, edit or delete what you have written, and update who receives it.

After you

Your people can still find your words

Instead of searching boxes and old messages, the people you choose can ask a question and see what you actually said about it, with the date you said it.

  • Labelled answers

    Each answer is marked Recorded, Related or Unknown.

  • No imitation

    There is no voice and no avatar, only your text.

  • Their own pace

    They begin when they are ready, and can stop at any time.

Hawaii

ToldForward in Hawaii

How we look after your information
  • Your record is private while you live: nothing in it is public or searchable.
  • You choose the people who will one day receive it, and you can change them at any time.
  • If you wish, a copy can one day go to a library or archive through the Historical Deposit.

Start with one small question

ToldForward asks you one friendly question a day about your life and your views, and you answer in your own words, typed or spoken with your device's dictation. Your record stays private while you live, and you name the people who will one day receive it.

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Keeping your story in Honolulu · Every state

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