Letters for Tuesday, December 5, 2006

• How does gay marriage harm your marriage?

• Dig a little deeper

• Cats in your belfry redux

• Looking for a childhood hero

How does gay marriage harm your marriage?

One might as well ask, “How does my printing counterfeit $20 bills hurt your wallet?” Or to use another example, can you imagine a building where every carpenter defined his own standard of measurement? A man and a woman joined together in holy matrimony is the time-tested “yardstick” for marriage. One cannot alter the definition of marriage without throwing society into confusion any more than one can change the definition of a yardstick.

Homosexual marriage is an empty pretense that lacks the fundamental sexual complementariness of male and female. And like all counterfeits, it cheapens and degrades the real thing. The destructive effects may not be immediately apparent, but the cumulative damage is inescapable. The eminent Harvard sociologist, Pitirim Sorokin, analyzed cultures spanning several thousand years on several continents, and found that virtually no society has ceased to regulate sexuality within marriage as defined as the union of a man and a woman, and survived. (Pitirim Sorokin, “The American Sex Revolution,” (Boston: Peter Sargent Publishers, 1956): 77-105.)

OK, let’s just ask the question: Why not gay “marriage?” What damage could be done by the courts allowing two consenting adults of the same gender to join in a relationship and sanction it as “marriage?” We already know the answer to that question. Take a look at the Scandinavian countries that embraced de-facto gay marriage back in the ’90s. The vast majority of couples there are choosing to simply live together instead of getting married, figuring that if marriage means anything then marriage means nothing. In Norway, there are reports of upwards of 60 to 80 percent of firstborn children conceived out of wedlock. The results of the Scandinavian experiment have been devastating. (Stanley Kurtz, “Death of Marriage in Scandinavia,” Boston Globe, March 10, 2004, A23.)

Do we really want that for America?

Lihu‘e

Dig a little deeper

The TGI article (“Kaua‘i county attorney resigns,” Dec. 2) about the resignation of Lani Nakazawa as County Attorney conformed to the county policy of being as opaque as possible in providing information to the public.

In a typical case of the departure of an important government official, data is offered by the employer or the employee as to the reason for the resignation — performance of the function, health, policy differences or the like. In the TGI article, no reason was stated for the resignation. It is implied that Ms. Nakazawa might be looking for another position in the Baptiste administration. If that were true, why wasn’t the resignation deferred until the search was resolved?

Although Ms. Nakazawa is a completely dedicated person (and is even an avid baseball fan), I believe a prominent factor of the operation of the County Attorney’s office under the Nakazawa watch has been the dramatic increase in the number of cases for which outside counsel have been retained to serve to act for the county where it is a plaintiff in lawsuits against other parties or to defend the county where it is a defendant. (In one well-known case the county is seeking to be both plaintiff and defendant). Although this information is not provided, it is believed that at present there are over 60 pending cases where the county is represented by outside counsel. In these cases, it is the function of the County Attorney to guide and supervise the services by outside counsel. No information is given as to the way this duty will be handled following the resignation.

In the area of accountability, a log of the pending cases should be available to the public. The amount of approved county funds should be attached to each pending case so the public would have an understanding where our tax dollars are expended.

There are many unanswered questions. It would be well for TGI to do some investigative reporting so the public could be better informed

Kapa‘a

Cats in your belfry redux

Helen Savadge wrote (“More compassion needed,” Letters, Dec. 2): “It has been said that society can be judged by how it treats the most helpless among us.” This is quite true. Let’s step back, though, and consider how “these innocent animals in their desperate plight” came to be that way. Since cats are not native to Hawai‘i, this “family” of cats behind Safeway is not indigenous to that area. They must be there through some irresponsible act on the part of their former owners — like letting them roam around the neighborhood freely so they can start breeding uncontrollably. THAT is the shameful behavior you should be concentrating on.

Ms. Savadge and Mr. Shioi before her are concerned with the “negative” response that initial article has received and then taking that as a sign that the negative responders are animal-haters, lacking in compassion, or indifferent to animal suffering. This is not at all an accurate representation. What is an accurate representation is that the negative comments were focused on the idea that an economic boycott of the Kauai Village Shopping Center was ill-advised. I would dare say it is a complete waste of time and energy and not fair to KVSC. Nobody has told animal lovers to stop loving their animals — just do it in a way that is not constantly trampling on the rights of others. KVSC has every right to ask that people stop coming to the shopping center to feed the cats. It is a liability for them, and it is not fair for anyone to insist that they accept such a liability. Period.

Perhaps “feral cats … are not adoptable,” and perhaps “re-trapping cats which were once trapped to be sterilized can take quite a bit of time.” I won’t argue with these points. I do take exception to the mere idea, though, that the psyche of these cats will somehow be damaged if they are split up or taken from that area — an idea raised in that original article. This is anthropomorphism — ascribing human traits to something non-human. It is not healthy for those cats to be treated as if they are humans in this way. Heck, if they WERE human, people would be demanding that they be put in a shelter, so you aren’t even doing the anthropomorphism correctly!

‘Ele‘ele

Looking for a childhood hero

My name is Louise Foster but at the time that I lived on Kaua‘i (I went to Kalaheo Elementary School), my name was Louise Hall. I’m looking for my childhood hero. Her name was Gail Silver. When I went to school there I had no friends at all and it was all that I could do to find a hole and hide in it, as I was always made fun of. So I cried most of my days away till an angel came along and gave me food to eat and clean clothes to put on before school. It worked. She was my best friend ever in life and I’ll never forget her.

But now I need to find her and thank my hero for saving me. I’ve tried every thing that I know — I’ve even called people on Kaua‘i asking them if they know her and no luck. I can’t even find a yearbook from the school from 1970 to 1972 .

Please: If you can you help me make my dream come true for Christmas, you can call (903) 857-2047 any time.

Mineola, Texas